August 4th(AM) - The nearly third-quarter Moon and Saturn will meet up in the sky, rising around midnight and visible until dawn.

 

August 9th(AM) - Mars and a waning crescent Moon will appear next to each other, rising around 3AM and visible until dawn.

 

August 12th - A total solar eclipse will grace the skies of the North Atlantic, with visibility ending near the Spain/France border. It will be visible as a slight partial eclipse for the northeastern United States. Cincinnati just misses the window for a partial eclipse.

 

August 12-13th - One of the most prolific meteor showers of the year, the Perseids, will peak on the evening of the 12th into the morning of the 13th. The Moon will not interfere with the show, making this a great year for Perseid viewing. At dark sites, rates nearing 100 meteors per hour might be visible.

 

August 16th - A thin waxing crescent Moon will appear near bright Venus low in the western sky after sunset. Visible from roughly 8:30 PM until they set about an hour later.

 

August 27th - A near total lunar eclipse will begin on the evening of the 27th. The visible portion of the eclipse will start at 10:33PM, reaching 96% of the Moon in Earth's shadow by 12:12AM, and ending at 1:51AM. Look for the Moon's ruddy red appearance near the maximum around midnight.

August 5th(AM) - The upper stage of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is predicted to impact the Moon around 2:44AM. The impact may be visible, though the predicted impact site is at the Moon's limb. 

 

August 30th(AM) - NASA's next flagship space telescope, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is scheduled to launch from Kennedy Space Center on the morning of the 30th. With a field of view 100x larger than Hubble, the telescope will study dark matter, dark energy, and exoplanets.

 

NET August - China plans to send its next lander and rover, Chang'e 7, to the lunar surface no earlier than August. The mission will land at the lunar south pole to scout locations for a possible lunar base.

 

August 20th, 1977 - The Voyager 2 spacecraft launched on this date, eventually passing Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Now drifting into interstellar space, the probe is roughly 13 billion miles from Earth. 

 

August 27th, 1962 - Mariner 2, the first probe to successfully encounter another planet, was launched on this day and later flew-by Venus.

August 5th - 3rd Quarter

August 12th - New

August 19th - 1st Quarter

August 28th - Full (Sturgeon Moon)

Mercury - Visible low on the eastern horizon before sunrise at the beginning of the month, becoming lost to the Sun toward the end of the month.

 

Venus - The brightest object in the western sky after sunset, gradually sinking lower toward the horizon as the month progresses.

 

Mars - Rising in the east around 3AM and visible until sunrise throughout the month.

 

Jupiter - Too close to the Sun at the beginning of the month, but it becomes visible shortly before sunrise low on the eastern horizon at the end of the month.

 

Saturn - Rises in the east around midnight at the beginning of the month, and around 10 PM at the end of the month - visible throughout the night.