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Finally, we get a chance to catch our collective breaths after the excitement of last week's total solar eclipse and the peak of the Perseid meteor shower! Oh wait. I lied. The night sky won't stop being amazing and we have a jaw-dropping lunar eclipse to prepare for on Aug. 27-28.
Better get back to it.
Sagittarius takes the spotlight at the start of the week as we hunt down a glistening star cluster lurking close to the lid of a celestial teapot, before we turn our gaze to Venus as it vies for our attention alongside the light of the waxing lunar crescent around the first quarter moon phase.
Saturn, meanwhile, will be surrounded by a parade of diverse and wonderful moons, while ancient craters and lunar seas provide tempting targets as the terminator line separating night from day marches across the lunar surface.
We'll also have mesmerizing images of the Aug. 12 total solar eclipse and photos of the Perseid peak captured from around the world. Then why not read our article delving into whether Venus can shine bright enough to cast a shadow and discover when the next total solar eclipse will darken Earth's skies?
Here's what to watch for this week.
Clear skies,
Anthony Wood
Skywatching Writer, Space.com
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| (Jules-Pierre Malartre/Starry Night) |
Look to the southern sky after nightfall and search for the famous "Teapot" asterism of stars that shines at the heart of the constellation Sagittarius. Next, locate the orange star Kaus Borealis, glowing at the tip of its triangular lid, and sweep your gaze around the patch of sky 2 degrees to its upper left.
There, you'll find the ancient light of the globular cluster Messier 22, also known as the "Jewel of Sagittarius" — a concentration of tens of thousands of gravitationally bound stars that shine approximately 10,000 light-years from Earth.
M22 is bright enough to be seen with the naked eye from a dark sky location. However, a pair of 10x50 binoculars will help reveal its many stars as a distinct, glowing circle of light, while a small telescope at 80 x to 150 x magnification will allow you to resolve individual stars glittering against the blackness of deep space.
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| (Jules-Pierre Malartre/Starry Night) |
The waxing crescent moon will glow low on the southwestern horizon in the hour following sunset on Aug. 18, with Venus appearing as a steady "Evening Star" among the twinkling lights of the constellation Virgo.
Look out for the blue-white light of the binary star system Spica shining between the moon and Venus, whose combined light is over 12,100 times more luminous than our sun.
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| (Jules-Pierre Malartre/Starry Night) |
Saturn will make for a spectacular sight in the early hours of Aug. 19, as the ringed giant shines halfway up the southern sky with the four stars of the Great Square of Pegasus gleaming to its upper right.
A small telescope will reveal a cluster of bright starlike moons surrounding the gas giant, representing the diverse moons of Tethys, Rhea, Dione and Enceladus, the latter of which is believed to host a vast subsurface ocean that may play host to extraterrestrial life!
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| (Jules-Pierre Malartre/Starry Night) |
Aug. 20 is a perfect time to grab your telescope and explore the 100-kilometer-wide (62-mile) Theophilus Crater scarring the northwestern shore of Mare Nectaris, also known as the Sea of Nectar.
Look out for shadows lining the broken terrain extending inward from the eastern rim, along with the shade cast by Theophilus' 1.5-km-high central peak, which formed as material rebounded to the middle of the crater in the wake of the violent impact that created it.
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| (Jules-Pierre Malartre/Starry Night) |
The 75%-lit waxing gibbous moon will reach perigee on Aug. 22, when it will be at its furthest point from Earth in its monthly orbit. Around this time, Mare Imbrium (the Sea of Showers) can be spotted as a vast dark plane on the sunlit side of the moon north of the equator, bordering the terminator line separating night from day.
The sun will be well positioned to highlight bright streaks of reflective material cast out during the creation of the nearby Copernicus impact crater, which lies to the south of Mare Imbrium.
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The first quarter moon will occur at 10:46 p.m. EDT on Aug. 19 (0246 GMT on Aug. 20), as the moon appears with its right side lit by direct sunlight and its left hidden behind a veil of impenetrable darkness.
The First Quarter moon rises around noon and sets at about midnight, according to NASA. That means it will appear high in the sky in the evening, making it an excellent time for lunar viewing, the agency added.
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The Perseid meteor shower never disappoints, and we've got some great photos this year to prove it.
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As Venus gets close to its greatest brilliancy in the evening sky, it’s a good time to test one of astronomy’s less believable claims.
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A total solar eclipse wowed skywatchers on Aug. 12, 2026 as it arced across Greenland, Iceland and Spain. Here are our favorite photos and videos from the event.
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You thought 2026 was a good year for solar eclipses? Just wait until 2027…
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These are the techniques, times and tools you'll need to photograph the moon using a camera.
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| Astronomy Kit and Accessories |
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Stomp Rockets can open up the world of model rocketry to your kids.
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The perfect instrument for introducing beginner astronomers to the moon and stars
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