In The Sky This Month

August 1997

Date.....Time.....Event
3/8.................10h...............NEW MOON.
4/8.................02h...............Mercury greatest elongation E. (27 deg.)
...........................................This is one of the best times to see Mercury in the evening sky
5/8.................21h...............Mercury 1.0 deg S of Moon. And the moon even shows you
............................................which is Mercury!
8/8.................21h 24m.......Occultation of 5.9 mag star by the moon.
16/8...............18h...............Neptune 4 deg S of Moon.
17/8...............07h...............Uranus 4 deg S of Moon
18/8...............13h...............FULL MOON.
19/8...............07h...............Moon at perigee. Being so close to Full Moon this means that
............................................the high and low tides will be a little higher and lower than usual.
22/8...............04h...............Saturn 0.008 deg N of Moon. This should be an interesting sight.
............................................Check them during the course of the evening and you will get a
............................................feel for the moons’ motion in the sky. Moon rise is at 22.20.

September 1997

Date.....Time.....Event
2/9.................02h...............NEW MOON. Eclipse not visible from S.A.
5/9.................14h...............Venus 3 deg S of Moon.
............................................You should be able to see Venus with the naked eye during the day.
13/9...............03h................Neptune 4 deg S of Moon.
13/9...............16h................Uranus 4 deg S of Moon
16/9...............21h................FULL MOON. Eclipse - See below for more details.
16/9...............17h................Moon at perigee. Being so close to Full moon this means that
.............................................the spring tides will be a little higher and lower than usual.
23/9...............02h................Equinox. The sun crosses over into the southern hemisphere.

Lunar Eclipse September 16th 1997.

Moonrise is at 17h50m from Johannesburg.

Moon enters penumbra 18h 11.0m

Moon enters umbra 19h 08.0m

Moon enters totality 20h 15.4m

Middle of eclipse 20h 46.6m

Moon leaves totality 21h 17.9m

Moon leaves umbra 22h 25.2m

Moon leaves penumbra 23h 22.2m