Highlights: The Milky Way shimmers in the sky on a clear, moonless summer night. To observe them, a location outside of a city’s light dome and with a clear view of the horizon is recommended. You should also give your eyes at least 20 minutes to get used to the darkness. What is behind this diffuse band? The name comes from Greek mythology: Zeus had fathered a son named Heracles with the king’s daughter Alcmene and placed him on his wife Hera’s breast to give him divine powers. Hera woke up and pushed the strange baby away. Milk splashed across the sky and formed the “Kiklos Galaxias”. Many cultures see a path or river in the Milky Way. The !Kung Bushmen refer to it as the “backbone of the night” that keeps darkness in the sky and does not let it fall to earth. Galileo Galilei recognized in 1609 that the Milky Way consists of countless stars, Friedrich Wilhelm Herschel explored the shape of this structure. In 3400 fields in the firmament, the astronomer persistently counted all the stars visible in his telescope. He drew the picture of a flattened, elongated disc. We now know that this galaxy, which includes the Sun, is like a Frisbee about 200,000 light-years across. Herschel died 200 years ago, on August 25, 1822.
Stars and constellations: The galactic center is toward the constellation Sagittarius, which is now deep in the south. Capricorn and Aquarius flash to the east, Scorpio and Libra to the west. High in the sky is the Summer Triangle with the stars Atair in the eagle, Deneb in the swan and Vega in the lyre. Hercules, Crown and Bootes join towards the west. The Big Dipper is emblazoned in the north-west with its tiller raised, and Perseus, Cassiopeia, Andromeda and Pegasus gather on the north-east stage.
Planets, Moon, Meteors: Mercury disappears from view in August, Venus shines in the east as the morning star for one hour at a time. Mars can be observed after midnight. Jupiter and Saturn, on the other hand, show up throughout the night. The ringed planet will come into opposition to the Sun in Capricorn on August 14 and will then be 1325 million kilometers from Earth. The moon’s timetable: first quarter on the 5th, full moon on the 12th, last quarter on the 19th and new moon on August 27th. On the night of August 13, the famous Perseids reach their maximum. Theoretically, a few dozen shooting stars should flare up every hour. Unfortunately, the full moon will outshine many meteors.