Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog

This is Bob Moler with Ephemeris for Tuesday, August 23rd. Today the Sun will be up for 13 hours and 40 minutes, setting at 8:35, and it will rise tomorrow at 6:55. The Moon, halfway from last quarter to new, will rise at 3:42 tomorrow morning.

In the southern sky between the Teapot of Sagittarius below and Aquila the Eagle with its southernmost star of the Summer Triangle lies Scutum the shield of John Sobieski, the Polish king who stopped the advance of the Turks at Kalenberg in 1683. The Polish half of me is very proud. Scutum is one of two official constellations which are related to real persons. The other one is Coma Berenices, a hank of the Egyptian Queen Berenice’s hair. However, the stars here are so dim and embedded in the glow of the Milky Way as to be nearly impossible to discern. Scutum lies in one of the richest portions of the Milky Way, wonderful to scan with binoculars and telescopes for star clusters and nebulae or clouds of dust and gas.

The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EDT, UT – 4 hours). They may be different for your location.

Addendum

I think of Scutum as an area of the Milky Way between Aquila and Sagittarius. Created using Stellarium and GIMP.