Hide your chips! The Seagull Nebula – also known as IC 2177 – is about 3650 light-years from Earth and is a relatively bright and very large emission nebula found between the constellations Monoceros and Canis Major. The Seagull Nebula has an apparent size about seven times that of the full moon. Photo: MPAS member Nik Axaris
Highlights this month
- 3ThuThe Moon passes Saturn — 2° apart. (10:11pm)
- 8TueThe Moon passes Jupiter — 3° apart. (5:48pm)
- 10ThuMercury at greatest evening elongation (27° from the Sun, mag 0.3) — best evening apparition. (11:45am)
- 13SunPerseids meteor shower peaks (up to 100/hr). A thin 9% Moon leaves the sky dark.
- 13SunMercury and Mars in conjunction — 5° apart. (5:00pm)
- 13SunVenus in inferior conjunction with the Sun — lost in the glare. (9:13pm)
- 19SatThe Moon passes Mars — 2° apart. (11:15am)
- 23WedMercury is stationary — begins retrograde (westward) motion. (2:39pm)
- 27SunSaturn at opposition — closest and brightest of the year, up all night in Aquarius (mag 0.3). (6:04pm)
- 29TueUranus is stationary — begins retrograde (westward) motion. (10:50am)
- 31ThuThe Moon passes Saturn — 2° apart. (5:47am)
In the August skies you can find Sagittarius, the Archer, lying almost overhead, and to its southwest lies Scorpius, the Scorpion. When you look towards these constellations on a clear night, you are looking in the direction of the very heart of our galaxy, the Milky Way.
Two interesting open clusters, M6 and M7, are nestled among rich star fields in Scorpius, and both are visible to the naked eye in an average dark-sky location.
In Sagittarius is M8, the Lagoon Nebula, which is visually about three times the size of the full moon and is the largest and brightest of several nebulosities in and around Sagittarius. It is an excellent target for a small telescope. And M17, the Omega Nebula, is also a good target for a small telescope. It is a glowing cloud of hydrogen gas that resembles the Greek capital letter ‘omega’. Using a larger telescope with wide enough field of view you can also glimpse the Trifid Nebula, M20. Its name means ‘divided into three lobes’. M20 is an unusual combination of an open cluster of stars: an emission nebula, a reflection nebula and a dark nebula.
The star field M24 in Sagittarius makes a great binocular target. Looking north you will find the planetary nebula M57, or the Ring Nebula. It is an interesting target for a small telescope, as is the larger planetary nebula M27, or the Dumbbell Nebula, in the constellation Vulpecula, the Fox.
Planet Mercury will be at its greatest elongation east on August 10, which means it is at its farthest distance from the sun, and then at its highest altitude in the evening sky on August 12. This month’s conjunctions, which is when two astronomical objects appear close to each other in the sky, include the moon and Saturn on August 3, the moon and Jupiter on August 8, then the moon and Saturn on August 31. On August 30-31, a blue moon will shine brightly in the night sky. A blue moon just means it is the second full moon in August. And no, it will not turn blue.
By Nerida Langcake
This article appeared in the August 2023 issue of the Mornington Peninsula Magazine.
The sky in detail — August 2023
Sun & twilight
| Date | Sunrise | Sunset | Day length | Astro. dark begins | ends |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tue 1 | 7:22am | 5:31pm | 10h 10m | 7:02pm | 5:50am |
| Thu 10 | 7:12am | 5:39pm | 10h 27m | 7:09pm | 5:42am |
| Sun 20 | 7:00am | 5:48pm | 10h 48m | 7:16pm | 5:31am |
| Thu 31 | 6:44am | 5:57pm | 11h 13m | 7:25pm | 5:17am |
Days lengthen by about 63 minutes over the month.
The Moon
- Full Moon SupermoonWed 2, 4:37am
- Last QuarterTue 8, 8:30pm
- New MoonWed 16, 7:37pm
- First QuarterThu 24, 8:00pm
- Full Moon SupermoonThu 31, 11:41am
Perigee 2 Aug (357,000 km) · Apogee 16 Aug (406,300 km) · Perigee 31 Aug (357,100 km)
The planets
Rise/set for mid-month at The Briars.
| Planet | In | Mag | Rise | Transit | Set | Best |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mercury | Leo | 0.5 | 8:05am | 2:01pm | 7:57pm | Evening |
| Venus | Leo | −3.5 | 6:27am | 12:04pm | 5:42pm | Hidden |
| Mars | Leo | 1.8 | 8:29am | 2:19pm | 8:09pm | Evening |
| Jupiter | Ari | −2.2 | 12:26am | 5:39am | 10:52am | Morning |
| Saturn | Aqr | 0.4 | 6:35pm | 1:18am | 7:56am | Morning |
| Uranus | Ari | 5.8 | 1:08am | 6:11am | 11:13am | Morning |
| Neptune | Psc | 7.8 | 8:27pm | 2:40am | 8:49am | Morning |
Meteor showers
- Perseids — peaks 13 August, radiant in Perseus (up to 100/hr). The famous northern shower, but its far-northern radiant scarcely rises from Victoria — only a trickle this far south. A thin 9% Moon leaves the sky dark.
Computed for The Briars, Mt Martha. Times are local (Melbourne).
Generated automatically from the MPAS sky engine on 15 July 2026.
The solar system — August 2023
Evening sky Morning sky Up much of the night Lost in the Sun’s glare
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