'Just sit back and enjoy the show': Sask. skies to come alive with celestial events in August

If you’re looking for a free nighttime activity, you’re in luck because the skies are going to be unleashing some natural wonders in the coming weeks.

“Get away from the light pollution of the city. Take some bug spray with you, and your most comfortable lawn chair and whatever kind of drink you want and just sit back and enjoy the show,” astrophotographer Tim Yaworski told CTV News.

August is providing us with two full moons, according to Yaworski who tells us one will be occurring at the beginning of the month, and one at the end of the month. It’s also known as the supermoon.

“What that basically means is the moon, when it orbits around the Earth, is an elliptical orbit. At times the moon is closer to the Earth than it is at other times, and when it’s closer to the Earth, they called it the super moon. Now what you will notice if you really look closely, it looks a little bit larger. Not that much larger. Not that much more impressive. The name is impressive."

When it’s closer to the horizon, it will be orange in colour as it’s fighting through the Earth's atmosphere. As it’s rising through the sky, it will turn into that white colour that we are more used to, according to Yaworski.

Yaworski advises anyone interested to mark August 12 on the calendar because there’s also going to be an exceptional sky event called the Perseid meteor shower, which in his opinion will be a 10 out of 10 event.

“You have a good chance of seeing a large amount of meteors, anywhere from 100 to 120 every hour. Anything from very bright ones to very, very faint lines. What’s really special about this year is the moon will be in what’s known as the new stage, a new moon which means the moon is not visible in the evening. So it will be optimal darkness,” he says.

Yaworski also suggests checking out the northern lights, which are spectacular right now since they are well into an active phase.

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“What we’ve been seeing lately over the past few years is that increase of activity in northern lights because the sun goes through an 11-year cycle and we’re approaching what’s known as solar maximum. The sun is at its most active. That’s going to be peaking approximately somewhere in 2024, or early 2025. So when the sun is moving into solar maximum, there’s more activity and more storm activity in the sun,” he says.

None of the viewing requires a telescope, according to Yaworski, and it’s a real bonus if you get to see a few of the celestial events happening at the same time.

Yawoeski can be found on social media by using the hashtag @livingskyguy.