Adrian Dening's Stars Over Somerset

Wednesday, 23 July 2025 20:43

Monday 28th July to Sunday 3rd August 2025

Just as it's getting dark on the evening of Monday 28th, say around 9.30pm, look towards the west to observe a waxing crescent Moon disappearing below the horizon, with planet Mars a little above and to the right of it.

The evening of Wednesday 30th into the early hours of Thursday 31st sees the peak of the Southern Aquariid meteor shower. Around midnight, the constellation of Aquarius, where the radiant point (or origin) of the meteor shower is located, will be found towards the south east. It can be a great shower to watch with a Zenith Hourly Rate of around 25.....in plain English, that means on average there can be up to 25 shooting stars per hour if conditions are working in your favour.

Venture back outside again on the Thursday evening, around 11pm, to catch Saturn popping its head above the eastern horizon. Aquarius will be to the right, so although past its peak, you may still catch a few meteors from the shower if you keep an eye in that direction.

Moving into August and swapping over to an early morning, look towards the east around 5am on Sunday morning to see Jupiter and Venus rise above the horizon. Both will be very obvious, with Jupiter around a magnitude of -1.8 and Venus to the right of it, shining at -3.9 which is even brighter. No telescope required for this one and also not recommended as the Sun will be rising in the same area of the sky and you must never risk catching an accidental glimpse of it in your eyepiece!