NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory, known as Curiosity, is scheduled to land on Mars in the early evening next Sunday. This is the largest and most complex rover we’ve sent to Mars, and arguably the most complex robot ever sent to any other world in the solar system.
The rover, roughly the size of an SUV, will be able to take detailed high-definition images of Mars and to microscopically examine the soil. The mission will land in Gale Crater, which is about 5 degrees south of the Martian equator. More on this mission from NASA: http://1.usa.gov/xE4U1.
There is a possibility that the Curiosity rover might take and transmit images of its Martian landing site soon after touchdown. Hawaii is well-placed to take advantage of this landing, since Curiosity touches down fairly early in the evening here — at 7:31 p.m. on Aug. 5.
Bishop Museum will present an Invasion of Mars night that day from 6:30 to 10 p.m. We’ll have a webcast of the landing in the event we do get some early pictures sent back from the Red Planet. Since the images are not 100 percent guaranteed, we will surround the landing with other Mars events. Admission for Invasion of Mars night is $10 for adults, $5 for kids 4-12, free for Bishop Museum members. The planetarium, observatory and Science Adventure Center will be open that night. Reservations are required. Please call 847-8203 or reserve online at bishopmuseum.org.
Perseid returns
The Perseid Meteor Shower returns next month, peaking in the nights and early mornings of Aug. 11-12 and Aug. 12-13, but active through Aug. 22.
The Perseids are the most famous meteor shower, with up to 80 meteors an hour. The peak nights occur during a waning crescent moon this year, so we don’t expect much lunar interference. The moon does not rise till 1:45 a.m. early on Aug. 12 and 2:40 a.m. on Aug. 13, and will be so slender that it should not cause much interference.
The Perseid shower is well-known because it’s a reliable shower, and also because it occurs in mid-summer, when the weather is generally better in the northern hemisphere. The Perseids get their name from the constellation of Perseus the Hero, which rises in the northeast right around midnight in mid-August. The shooting stars appear to come from that part of the sky where Perseus is located.
For Perseid viewing, stay up late on the evening of Aug. 11, into the early hours of Aug. 12. Or, stay up late on Aug. 12, to the early hours of Aug. 13. Both nights should be good. You do not need a telescope or binoculars. Find a location with a good view of full sky. Get away from any distracting street or house lights. You can focus your attention on the eastern sky, since the meteors will seem to come from the constellation of Perseus, which rises in the east around midnight. Still, it’s also good to scan the entire sky, since these streaks can appear anywhere.
Planets
Jupiter and Venus, the brightest dots in the sky, shine in the early hours of the morning next month.
Throughout August, look east from 3:30 a.m. until daybreak. Venus is the brilliant light lower in the sky, and throughout August it rises around 3:15 a.m. Venus shines at minus 4.3 magnitude and is brighter than any other dot in the heavens.
Look for Jupiter above Venus, shining at minus 2 magnitude. At the start of August, Jupiter is about 15 degrees above Venus, or a little more than the diameter of your fist held at arm’s length. As the month goes on, Venus and Jupiter draw farther apart. By Aug. 31, Jupiter will be about 40 degrees above Venus in the morning sky, or the span of four palms held at arm’s length. In late August, Jupiter rises just after midnight.
Look for the late crescent moon near these planets from Aug. 10-14. Looking east, Jupiter will be below the Pleiades throughout the month; Venus will be to the left of Orion the Hunter, which has entered the August pre-dawn sky.
Mars and Saturn do a ballet in the evening sky that also involves the bright blue star Spica, just below Saturn. At the start of August, Mars forms a triangle with Saturn and Spica in which Mars marks the right point of the triangle. Then Mars will appear to pass right between Saturn and Spica in the middle of the month. By the end of August, the three dots of light will again form a triangle, with Mars now the left point of the triangle.
In early August, look for this gathering as soon as it gets dark. At dusk Mars will be a third of the way up in the west and shine at 1.1 magnitude. About 6 degrees (three fingers) to the left, Saturn will shine just above Spica. Saturn, shining at 0.78 magnitude, is the brightest dot in the trio; Spica is slightly dimmer at 0.96. Saturn is the slightly yellow one; Mars the slightly red one; Spica the slightly blue one. In early August, this triangle of stars starts to set around 10:30 p.m.
Each night in early August, Mars will appear closer and closer to the other two dots of light. On Aug. 5, the night the rover Curiosity lands on Mars, the three dots will form an almost perfect equilateral triangle (in which all three are the same length). Every night Mars will seem to move a little closer to the other dots, and by Aug. 13 Mars, Spica and Saturn will form an almost perfect straight line.
On Aug. 13, look for Spica on the bottom, Mars in the middle and Saturn on top. Try to pick out the slight blue of Spica, the reddish orange of Mars and the slight yellowish color of Saturn. Mars, Spica and Saturn will emerge from the twilight about a third of the way up in the western sky, and will set around 10 p.m. To see them as a straight line, you need to look for them specifically on the evening of Aug. 13. Mars moves so fast that by Aug. 14 it will no longer be in line with Spica below it and Saturn above it. By Aug. 15 the gathering will look like a triangle again, now with Mars on the left.
Mars appears to move quite fast. By the end of August, Mars will be 10 degrees (one palm’s diameter) to the left of the other two dots, and the triangle looks definitely lopsided. This trio sets on Aug. 31 at 9 p.m.
Look for the crescent moon passing through this triangle on Aug. 21, when the moon will be just below Mars.
Look for Mercury low in the east at dawn from Aug. 14 onward. On Aug. 14, it rises around 5 a.m. and is about 10 degrees (the width of your palm at arm’s length) above the eastern horizon when day breaks about 5:40 a.m. Your best chance to spot Mercury is on Aug. 15, when the old crescent moon will be just above Mercury. On that day Mercury shines at 0.15 magnitude. Mercury will get brighter every morning until the end of the month but will also be lower in the sky each morning.
