August ends as it began – at least as far as the moon in the firmament is concerned. Already on the 1st of the month at 8.32 p.m. the full moon phase occurs in the constellation Sagittarius. On the morning of the following day, the moon comes close to earth at 357,310 kilometers.
Since the time between two consecutive identical moon phases – for example from full moon to full moon – is 29.5 days, but August has 31 days, there will be a second full moon in this month. On the 31st, Earth’s satellite is again fully illuminated, this time in the constellation Aquarius. The exact full moon phase is reached at 3:36 am.
Since the moon comes close to earth a second time in the early evening of the 30th at 357,181 kilometers, the full moon appears at its largest this year – some like to call it a “supermoon”, even if the difference is not that big. The coincidence of near-earth and full moon is likely to lead to flash floods again and can trigger earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.
“Blue Moon”
A second full moon in a month is called a “blue moon” in the US. It is not clear where the term “blue moon” comes from – the second full moon is certainly not blue. Since such an event rarely occurs, the English phrase “Once in a Blue Moon” means something like “every blue moon”. The next “Blue Moon” is the full moon on May 31, 2026.
Venus has ended her evening star period and appears in the morning sky in the last third of the month. From the 22nd you can try to track Venus deep in the eastern sky until just before sunrise. On the 22nd, Venus will rise around half past five in the morning. Fifteen minutes later you should see Venus. Until the end of August, Venus rises earlier and earlier, most recently at 4:45 a.m. In the telescope, Venus shows a large narrow crescent that gets smaller and thicker as August progresses.
Mars said goodbye to the evening sky for this year. Jupiter appears in the eastern sky late in the evening and dominates the second half of the night. The giant planet resides in the constellation of Aries. Saturn in Aquarius will come into opposition to the Sun on the 27th and be observable all night. The almost full moon will pass the ringed planet on the night of August 30th/31st. Mercury remains invisible with the sun in the daytime sky.
August is the most active shooting star month. On its mild summer nights, you can see a particularly large number of shooting stars. The reason for this is the Perseids, whose maximum activity this year is expected on August 13 after dawn. The Perseids can be followed until August 24th.
As the most beautiful and richest stream of the year, the Perseids bring a maximum of up to 100 shooting stars per hour. In the days before and after, around 50 meteors can still be expected every hour. The Perseids originated in comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle. The best viewing time is between 10pm and 4am. At 60 kilometers per second, the Perseid shooting stars are fairly fast objects. They are also popularly called Laurentius’ tears, after the Christian martyr Laurentius.
Shooting Stars and Summer Triangle
The Summer Triangle is now high in the south. High above our heads, almost at the zenith, you can see Vega in the Lyre, 25 light years away. Next to the lyre, the swan spreads its wings. It is marked by a large star cross, which is also called “Northern Cross”. One can imagine a flying swan in this constellation. Deneb is the brightest star in Swan. He marks the tip of the tail. The name comes from the Arabic: Deneb means something like tail. 2500 light years separate us from Deneb.
Atair, the third star of the Summer Triangle, forms the main star of the eagle, which pounces on its prey. The term Atair is also of Arabic origin and means “flying eagle”. At almost 17 light-years away, Atair is one of our sun’s neighboring stars. A little to the east of the eagle is the small but memorable image of the dolphin.
The summer Milky Way invites you to scan it with binoculars, using an instrument that is as bright as possible and has a wide field of view.
Autumn square and sun
The Big Dipper descends to the horizon in the northwest, but does not reach it in our latitudes. Cassiopeia, on the other hand, the celestial W, rises to the north-east. Pegasus Square has risen in the eastern sky, a harbinger of the coming fall. One therefore speaks of the autumn square.
The sun is on the descending limb of its annual path, approaching the autumn equinox. On August 11th in the morning she leaves the constellation of Cancer and enters the constellation of Leo, where she remains until September 17th. On August 23, she passes the royal star Regulus in Leo. On the same day, the sun enters the zodiac sign Virgo in the morning. The midday altitude of the sun decreases by nine degrees. Day length shrinks by two hours in Kiel and by one hour and 34 minutes in Munich over the course of the month.
