August rewards early risers among stargazers with shooting stars, a comet and three of the five planets visible to the naked eye.
The Perseid meteor shower can be observed from 5:00 a.m. in the north-northeast. However, it is very low above the horizon. Therefore, only a few shooting stars are likely to be seen in the hour or so before dawn. Active from 17 July to 24 August, the meteor shower reaches its peak around 12 August.
The Perseids owe their name to the constellation Perseus. The area of the sky from which the shooting stars appear to come is close to Perseus, just a bit diagonally below on the left. Under favourable conditions, 60 to 100 meteors per hour can be observed at its peak.
Much higher in the sky in the northeast is Comet 24P/Schaumasse. However, you will need a good pair of binoculars or, even better, a telescope. It is located diagonally above on the left of Aldebaran, the brightest star in the constellation Taurus.
Planets also seem to prefer the early morning. Jupiter rises in the east shortly before 5:00 a.m. (all times refer to 15 August in Windhoek; see TimeAndDate.com). Venus follows just minutes later, shortly after 5:00 a.m. Saturn is already high in the north-west and fades in the twilight.
However, the ringed planet also appears in the evening sky. Rising at around 9:15 p.m., it takes over from Mars, which is already sinking towards the western horizon and disappears at around 9:40 p.m. Mercury is not visible at all: viewed from Earth, it is too close to the Sun.
An earthly event that is nevertheless entirely dedicated to the stars and planets will take place on the penultimate weekend at the Rock Lodge north of Okahandja. On Friday afternoon and Saturday, 22 and 23 August, the Namibia Scientific Society invites interested parties to the 'Southern Star Party 2025' (see report by Namibian.org).
Sunrise on 1 August is around 7:25, sunset around 18:31. On 31 August, the sun rises at around 7:02 and sets at around 18:41. The length of the day (time with daylight) will therefore increase by 33 minutes over the course of the month – from 11 hours and 6 minutes to 11 hours and 39 minutes (see Timeanddate.com).
The phases of the moon in August: first quarter 1 August, full moon 9 August, last quarter 16 August, new moon 23 August, first quarter 31 August. The moonlight is therefore the least disturbing when observing the stars and planets from the middle to the end of the month.
You can also find out more about the Namibian starry sky in August in the Astro News by Lutz von Dewitz in the news section on the website of the Namibia Scientific Society.
Sven-Eric Stender