| Early August | Sunrise 6:00 a.m., Sunset 7:45 p.m. PST, day length is 13 hours 45 minutes |
| Aug 2, Sunday | Mercury at greatest western elongation. Milky Way rises at 9:14 p.m. and is visible for 3 hours and 14 minutes. |
| Aug 9, Sunday | Milky Way rises at 9:04 p.m. and is visible for 2 hours and 56 minutes |
| Aug 12, Wed | New Moon (darkest sky for stargazing and astrophotography); total solar eclipse (not visible here). |
| Aug 12-13, Wed/Thu | Perseids Meteor Shower (see note below) |
| Aug 15, Sat | Venus at greatest eastern elongation |
| Aug 27, Thu | Full Moon rises at 7:10 p.m.-sets at 5:43 a.m. |
| Aug 28, Fri | Partial Lunar Eclipse peaks at 9:12 p.m. (see note below) |
| Aug 30, Sun | Milky Way rises at 8:34 p.m. and is visible for 1 hour and 42 minutes |
THE PLANETS AND THE MILKY WAY IN AUGUST
- Venus: brilliant “Evening Star” in the west after sunset, moving from Taurus toward Gemini, Venus will be getting higher each night. It reaches its greatest eastern elongation in August.
- Mercury: in early August, it becomes visible in the eastern sky before sunrise.
- Summer Milky Way: Summer is the best time to see the bright core of our own Milky Way galaxy rising in the Southeastern sky, as the core is most prominent from June through August.
Notes:
- The Perseids Meteor Shower is one of the best meteor showers to observe, producing up to 60 meteors per hour at its peak. It is produced by the comet Swift – Tuttle, which was discovered in 1862. The Perseids are famous for producing a large number of bright meteors. The shower runs annually from July 17 to August 24. It peaks this year on the night of August 12 and the morning of August 13. This is an excellent year for the Perseids, as there will be no moonlight to interfere with the show. The best viewing will be from a dark location after midnight. Meteors will radiate from the constellation Perseus but can appear anywhere in the sky.
- A Partial Lunar Eclipse will occur on Friday, August 28 at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit. A lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon moves into the Earth’s shadow, causing the Moon to be darkened. A partial lunar eclipse happens when one part of the Moon is in the Earth’s umbra, while the other part is in the Earth’s penumbra. Unlike a solar eclipse, which can only be viewed from a relatively small area of the world, a lunar eclipse may be viewed from anywhere on the night side of Earth. For us the peak will be at 9:12 p.m. This lunar eclipse will be the last of an almost tetrad, with the others being on March 14, 2025 (total), September 8, 2025 (total) and March 3, 2026 (total).
