Mercury - visible in the evening sky during mid to late August. Look for it only 2 to 3 degrees up in the WNW just after sunset. Mercury will be 0 magnitude and have a diameter of 6 arc-seconds during this time. Mercury will pass 0.75 degrees from Saturn on the evening of the 15th and 1 degree from Venus on the 20th.

View the first cloes up images of Mercury in 33 years. MESSENGER space craft website: http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/.

Venus - visible in the evening sky this month. Look for it only 2 to 4 degrees up in the WNW a half-hour after sunset. Venus will be -4 magnitude and have a diameter that ranges from 10 to 11 arc-seconds. Look for Venus 0.5 degree from Saturn on the evening of the 13th.

Mars - located in Leo and Virgo during August. Look for it 10 degrees up in the west early in the month. The "red" planet will be magnitude 1.7 and have an apparent diameter of 4 arc-seconds during the month.

For the lastest information on NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander visit: http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu/

Jupiter - located in Sagittarius. Jupiter is due south around 11 pm at mid-month and remains well-placed till 1 or 2 am. The "king of the planets" will be magnitude -2.6 with an apparent diameter of 45 arc-seconds. Jupiter's Great Red Spot, a large anti-cyclone, can be seen centered on the planet's disc at the following times (EDT):

08/02/2008, 11:33 pm; 08/05/2008, 09:03 pm; 08/07/2008, 10:41 pm; 08/10/2008, 12:19 am; 08/12/2008, 09:49 pm; 08/14/2008, 11:27 pm; 08/17/2008, 08:57 pm; 08/19/2008, 10:35 pm; 08/22/2008, 12:13 am; 08/24/2008, 09:43 pm; 08/26/2008, 11:22 pm; 08/29/2008, 08:51 pm; 08/31/2008, 10:30 pm

For detailed postions of Jupiter's Moons try this interactive javascript utility.

Saturn - located in Leo. The ringed planet may be glimpsed about 5 degrees above the western horizon a half-hour after sunset during the first week of August. Saturn will be magnitude 0.8 during August with an apparent diameter of 16 arc-seconds. The rings will be 35 arc-seconds across and tilted 7 degrees to our line-of-sight. By late December, the ring tilt will be only 1 degree.

The Cassini spacecraft continues its observation of Saturn and its many moons and rings. For the latest images from Cassini, see:

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.cfm

For detailed postions of Saturn's Moons try this interactive javascript utility.

Uranus - located in Aquarius. Uranus can best be seen in the south between 1 and 5 am. Uranus will be magnitude 5.7 and can be glimpsed with the naked eye from a dark site. Through a telescope, the planet will have a tiny 3.7 arc-second pale green disc.

Neptune - located in Capricornus. Neptune passes through opposition on August 15th and can best be seen in the south between 12 and 3 am. Neptune will be magnitude 7.8. Through a telescope, the planet will have a tiny 2.4 arc-second pale blue disc.

Pluto - located in Sagittarius. The best time to see this "dwarf planet" is between 10 pm and 12 am EDT when it will be 30 degrees up in the south. An 8 inch or larger telescope and dark skies will be needed to see Pluto's faint magnitude 14.0 light.

A finder chart for Pluto can be found at: http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/highlights/18340874.html

Eris (pronounced "EE-ris") - formerly known as Xena, 2003 UB313, and "the tenth planet" - is magnitude 19 in central Cetus, high in the south during evening.

For detailed information please visit Astronomical Delights

The Perseid Meteor Shower - peaks on the morning of August 12th. About 30 to 60 Perseids may be seen per hour from a dark site. Look towards the NE during the evening of the 11th. After midnight, the shower radiant will rise higher in the east until it is nearly overhead at the start of twilight (5 am). This year the gibbous Moon will set by 2 am and there will be nearly 3 hours of dark skies for meteor watching. Lesser numbers of Perseids may be seen for a few nights to either side of the peak.