Adrian Dening's Stars Over Somerset

Wednesday, 30 July 2025 19:46

Monday 4th to Sunday 10th August 2025

If you venture outside any night next week, Saturn will be an easy target, shining at a magnitude of around +0.7 and at midnight, the planet will have just risen above the east south east horizon. It then spends the rest of the night moving across the sky towards the west.

If you've brought your telescope out, planet Neptune can be found just above Saturn. It's current magnitude of about +8.0 makes is much harder to spot!

While your telescope is aiming in that direction, it should be possible to observe some of Saturn's many moons. Unfortunately its famous dust rings are not best-placed at the moment for observing from the Earth.

At the end of the week, we have a Full Moon. The Moon will be visible most of the night as it travels from east to west and the light pollution from it, makes this the worst time possible to go looking for faint deep sky objects.

So instead, why not see if you can experience that "Moon illusion" that I have mentioned before, where as the Moon rises above the horizon, it looks artificially large because your brain plays a trick on you.

On the evening of Thursday 7th, look towards the south east just as it's getting dark, around 9.30pm and our celestial neighbour should be pretty obvious! If you keep watching the Moon later into the night, as it climbs higher in the sky, it will appear to go back to its normal size. Of course, it doesn't really change size - it is just an optical illusion!