Special to CosmicTribune.com, August 18, 2025

Excerpts from weekly Sky&Telescope report.

MONDAY, AUGUST 18

■ Titan casts its shadow on Saturn tonight. Every 15 years, Saturn’s largest moon repeatedly crosses Saturn’s face from Earth’s viewpoint — and, more visibly, casts its very tiny black shadow onto Saturn’ face. A series of these events is now under way. They will continue every 16 days until October.

Tonight Titan’s shadow crosses Saturn from 5:52 to 10:00 UT August 19th (UT date). In EDT that’s from 1:52 a.m. to 6:00 a.m. In PDT it’s from 10:52 p.m. to 3:00 a.m.

Wherever you are, Saturn rises in the evening and is highest in the hours before dawn. So all of North America again gets a chance at this shadow transit. Titan its shadow will be crossing Saturn’s high northern latitudes.

But if you’re used to seeing shadows of Jupiter’s moons on Jupiter, be warned: Saturn is twice as far away, and although Titan is large, it’s not twice as large as Jupiter’s moons.

■ And as dawn begins on Tuesday morning the 19th, the waning crescent Moon tops the Jupiter-Venus-Mercury stack as shown below.

The waning crescent Moon passes Jupiter, Venus, and Mercury in the dawn.

TUESDAY, AUGUST 19

■ August is prime Milky Way time whenever the Moon is out of the evening sky like it is this week. Once evening darkness is complete, the Milky Way runs up from between Sagittarius and Scorpius in the south-southwest, tilts leftward across Aquila, continues left through the big Summer Triangle very high, then tapers on down through Cassiopeia to Perseus low in the north-northeast.

■ On Wednesday morning the 20th, the crescent Moon, Venus, Jupiter, Pollux and Castor all fit in a circle 12° wide, as shown. See if you can take a good pic of them, and maybe Mercury and Procyon below them, early in the eastern dawn before the sky brightens too much. Find a spot with good foreground scenery, frame the group, and brace your phone or camera firmly.

Have you tried taking such skyscapes yet? Why not start now? Yes, you have an alarm clock. Plan to be out and set to shoot at least an hour before sunrise.

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 20

■ The W of Cassiopeia, still tilted, is nicely up in the northeast these evenings, above Perseus. The upper right-hand side of the W is its brightest side. Watch Cas rise higher and straighten upright through the next two hours and, equivalently, the next month.

THURSDAY, AUGUST 21

■ The brightest star high in the southeast these moonless evenings is Altair, with little orange Tarazed above it by a finger-width at arm’s length.

A little more than a fist-width to Altair’s left is delicate Delphinus, the Dolphin, leaping left.

Above Altair, slightly less far, is smaller, fainter Sagitta, the Arrow. It too points leftward. You’ll need a nice dark sky. Or binoculars.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 22

■ As summer wanes and Arcturus moves down the western sky, the kite pattern of Boötes that sprouts from Arcturus leans over to the right. The kite is narrow, slightly bent, and 23° long: about two fists at arm’s length. Arcturus is its bottom point from which the stubby tail hangs down.

The Big Dipper poses to its right in the northwest at about the same height as Arcturus.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 23

■ New Moon (exact at 2:07 a.m. on this date EDT).

■ As August proceeds and nights begin to turn chilly, the Great Square of Pegasus looms up in the east, balancing on one corner. Its stars are only 2nd and 3rd magnitude. Your fist at arm’s length fits inside it. Saturn glows down to its lower right.

From the Square’s left corner, the backbone of the constellation Andromeda extends to the lower left: three stars in a slightly curving line (including the corner) about as bright as those forming the Square.

This whole giant pattern was named “the Andromegasus Dipper” by the late Sky & Telescope columnist George Lovi. It’s shaped sort of like a giant Little Dipper with an extra-big bowl. It’s currently lifting its contents upward.

SUNDAY, AUGUST 24

■ The actual Little Dipper, meanwhile, is tipping over leftward in the north. It’s only 40% as long as the Andromegasus Dipper, and most of it is much fainter. As always, you’ll find that it’s oriented more than 90° counterclockwise compared to Andromegasus. It’s dumping its contents out.

  Aug. 18-24: Moon, The Sky, Venus and Jupiter together on the 19th