Saturn At Its Biggest And Brightest In 2021 And The Perseids Intensify: What You Can See In The Night Sky This Week

Each Monday I pick out the northern hemisphere’s celestial highlights (mid-northern latitudes) for the week ahead, but be sure to check my main feed for more in-depth articles on stargazing, astronomy, eclipses and more. 

This image of Saturn was captured by NASA ‘s Hubble Space Telescope.

NASA/AFP via Getty Images What To Watch For In The Night Sky This Week: August 2-8, 2021

This week sees a New Moon, which makes it perfect for stargazing, but it’s actually a rather fine week for a spot of planet-gazing, too.

Saturn, the sixth planet from the Sun, comes into “opposition,” which is when Earth gets between it and the Sun. It’s consequently bigger, brighter and 100% lit for a few weeks—starting from this week! 

MORE FROM FORBESSee 7 Jaw-Dropping New Photos Of Jupiter Taken This Week By NASA’s JunoBy Jamie Carter

If you have a small telescope train it on Saturn—high in the eastern sky right after dark—for a chance to see its incredible, awe-inspiring ring pattern. 

Elsewhere the waning crescent Moon makes an appearance in the pre-dawn night skies, which offers a chance to see the stars of winter in all their glory—in summer! 

It’s also a great time to see some “shooting stars” from the Perseids meteor shower, which peaks next week.

MORE FROM FORBESThis Year’s Perseid Meteor Shower Will Be The Brightest For Years. Here’s How To See Up To 50 ‘Shooting Stars’ In An HourBy Jamie Carter Monday, August 2, 2021: Saturn at ‘opposition’

If you ever wanted to get eyes-on with Saturn’s rings, tonight is the night. However, although it’s technically tonight that the planet is the biggest and brightest of the year, any night this week, or even this month, will afford you a great view.

Just as important as size and brightness during a planet’s opposition is its rise-time—Saturn will reach its highest point in the night sky around midnight, which is rather more convenient that the pre-dawn observing that’s been possible for most of 2021. 

Look southeast at midnight and you’ll see Saturn rising in the constellation of Capricorn, with the much brighter Jupiter below and to the left. 

Tuesday, August 3, 2021: The Moon and Aldebaran

Stellarium Tuesday, August 3, 2021: Moon and Aldebaran

Best viewed before dawn, a 24% illuminated waning gibbous Moon will grace the eastern sky and appear just 5.7° to the left of Aldebaran, the red supergiant star—and the “eye of the bull”—in the constellation of Taurus.

You’ll find the sparkling Pleiades star cluster just above the pair, and bright star Capella further to the left. Directly below will be ruddy Betelgeuse in Orion. What you’re seeing is the winter night sky rising—what a treat!

Tuesday, August 3, 2021: The Moon and Aldebaran

Stellarium Tuesday, August 3, 2021: Boeing’s Launch America’ #2

Delayed from last week, today may see part two of May 2020’s “Launch America!” Check NASA TV and YouTube to watch Boeing’s “Starliner” spacecraft launch uncrewed to the International Space Station (ISS). 

The mission is targeted to launch at 1:20 p.m. EDT Tuesday, August 3, 2021.

This Orbital Flight Test 2 is the last one—in theory—before Starliner takes NASA astronauts to the ISS, just as SpaceX began doing last year. This test comes after a failed test flight in December 2019. 

MORE FROM FORBESMove Over, SpaceX: How You Can Watch ‘Launch America’ Live As Boeing Tests ‘Starliner’ For NASABy Jamie Carter Friday, August 6, 2021: A crescent Moon and Pollux

In another early morning sight, a 5%-lit waning crescent Moon will be visible in the east-northeast about 3° from Pollux, one of the two bright stars in Gemini. The “winter” night sky will be visible all around. 

Sunday, August 8, 2021: New Moon

At 9:50 a.m. EDT today it’s New Moon, that moment each month when the Moon is lost in the glare of the Sun and completely invisible.

It brings to an end a week of moonless early evenings and heralds a few nights where it will be possible to see a beautiful crescent Moon just after dark in the western twilight sky. 

This long-exposure photograph shows the Milky Way in the sky above Taungdwingyi, nearly 100km from … [+] Naypyidaw, on early March 10, 2019. (Photo by Ye Aung THU / Ye Aung THU / AFP)

AFP via Getty Images Object of the week: Milky Way

Free from bright moonlight, this week constitutes August’s “Milky Way” window, arguably the best days of the year for viewing our galaxy from the northern hemisphere. Every single star you can see in the night sky is part of the Milky Way, but this is a chance to see the densest part—that diffuse “milky” glow of billions of stars—arc across your night sky. 

In mid-August the Milky Way is visible at 10 p.m. from mid-northern latitudes, and is arching overhead by midnight to. It’s the perfect time to see it—but do make sure you get as far away as possible from light pollution. 

Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.