Today:
August starts with a curious view for early risers, low in the east-northeast. From 4:30 to 4:45 AM, a thin Crescent Moon appears to the right of a pair of stars rising in the twilight, the Twins of Gemini, forming a triangle. Normally we see Gemini in the winter, but that is in the evening. Gemini begins its viewing each year in August.
Friday:
For the first time in several months, we have a planet to view in the evenings, the ringed-world, Saturn. You’ll find it rising into the east-southeast just before 10:00 PM, but climbing to a more favorable location from 11 o’clock, through the rest of the night. Saturn enjoys a close pairing with the Moon later this month.
Saturday:
Joining Saturn as a evening planet, Venus returns to the skies, though extremely difficult to find just yet. The Earth’s tilted axis makes evening planets very challenging in the west in late summer, with Venus barely visible from about 8:30 to 8:45 PM in the bright twilight, barely above the west-northwest horizon.