Here’s a brief look at what’s going on in the Mile High City this week.

August 18:

• Catch the waning crescent Strugeon Moon next to a trio of open clusters in Auriga—M36, a compact cluster about 4,100 light-years away with roughly 60 hot, young blue stars; M37, the brightest and richest of the three, boasting several hundred stars and a sprinkling of striking red giants about 4,500 light-years distant; and M38, a looser, X-shaped cluster about 4,200 light-years away that contains dozens of stars of varying brightness, offering a gorgeous contrast in the eyepiece: 4:00 AM

August 19:

• Look for the slender crescent Sturgeon Moon sharing the constellation Gemini with a host of other bright objects—brilliant Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system glowing steadily white; dazzling Venus, the brightest planet, shining like a tiny beacon in the evening sky; and the constellation’s twin jewels, Castor, a white multiple star system about 51 light-years away, and Pollux, a golden-hued giant star roughly 34 light-years distant and the brightest star in Gemini: 4:00 AM
• Mercury reaches its westernmost elongation: 4:00 AM

August 20:

• Check out the waning crescent Sturgeon Moon resting between Venus and Pollux—Venus, the dazzling “Evening Star” and brightest planet in our sky, and Pollux, a warm golden giant star about 34 light-years away that marks the head of the twin in the constellation Gemini. 4:30 AM
• DAS Astrophotography Special Interest Group (ASIG) Advanced Image Processing Meeting: Virtual over Zoom (check email or Slack for details): 7:00 PM

August 21:

• Standley Lake Stargazing Virtual Program: Livestream on Zoom: 6:00 PM
• Look for a tiny sliver of the waning crescent Sturgeon Moon near Beehive Cluster (M44) and Mercury: 5:15 AM

August 22 (Dark Sky Weekend):

• Astronomy in the Park: Rocky Mountain National Park Park N Ride: 8:30 PM
• Boulder Stargazing: Beech Shelter (registration required): 7:30 PM
• Colorado Springs Astronomical Society Dark Sky Program: Florissant Fossil Beds: 9:00 PM
• DAS Dark Sky Weekend: Kline-Dodge Dark Site: All Night

August 23 (Dark Sky Weekend):

• Westcliffe Electronically Assisted Astronomy Star Party: Smokey Jack Observatory: 8:45 PM
• DAS Dark Sky Weekend: Kline-Dodge Dark Site: All Night
• New Harvest Moon: 12:06 AM

August 24 (Dark Sky Weekend):

• DAS Dark Sky Weekend: Kline-Dodge Dark Site: All Night
  

Sky Map

• The pdf map of the night sky from SkyMaps.com can be found at https://www.skymaps.com/skymaps

This Week’s Meteoric Activity:

You can keep track of the activity of meteor showers as well as those beyond the limits of visual observing by visiting the NASA Meteor Shower Portal.

• Perseids: last hour before dawn in western Perseus: 3 per hour.
• alpha Capricornids (CAP): 1:00 AM in northwestern Capricornus: 1 per hour
• Southern delta Aquariids (SDA): 4:00 AM in western Aquarius: 1 per hour
• Anthelion (ANT): 2:00 AM in central Capricornus: 1 per hour.
• kappa Cygnids (KCG) 11:00 PM in northwestern Cygnus: 1 per hour.
• eta Eridanids (ERI) last hour before dawn in western Eridanus: 1 per hour.
  

Clear skies and happy stargazing!