Starwatch: Prepare for a pre-dawn Venus at its peak | Venus
AUgust is another month of the brilliant sky in the northern hemisphere, so we have to look for late and early morning events with brilliant celestial objects. Fortunately, Venus covered us. The planet reaches its highest altitude in the morning sky this month, rising more than three hours earlier than the sun at the latitudes of the middle of the north and brilliant with the eastern sky.
This week, the planet is located in the constellation of Gemini, the twins. It will undoubtedly be shiny, shiny with an apparent magnitude of –4, which makes it more brilliant than all the rest of the sky, with the exception of the sun and the moon. This will mean that it is visible even from the urban environments most polluted by light.
If you have a small hand telescope, the crescent phase of Venus will be clearly visible – but stop observing before sunrise, because even an overview of the sun through a telescope can cause permanent ocular damage.
Observers in the southern hemisphere can also enjoy Venus early in the morning, but it will appear lower on the oriental horizon. Fortunately, its dazzling brightness should still make it obvious.
The graphic is a warning for next week. On August 12, Venus and Jupiter will meet in the sky before dawn. The graph shows the view east of London at 5 am BST.
