What's Happening in Space: August 2023
- 1st Aug 2023
A summary of space events through the month
Dhara Patel is a Space Expert at the National Space Centre, working to help share space science, stories, and topical news with our visitors and online audiences. Each month she curates a round-up of some notable space and science events coming up the weeks ahead.
This August is looking like a fab month for space events, including a supermoon, the Perseid meteor shower and several launches around the world - so it's a great time to get space-gazing!
1st August – full moon (7:31pm) / supermoon
Known as the Sturgeon moon (according to the old Farmers’ Almanac), this full moon is named by North American fishing tribes who realised that sturgeon fish were abundant in this month. Check out the “Full Moon: Full Facts” blog written by Mike Darch in our Space Comms team: Full Moons and Full Facts (spacecentre.co.uk). Wait until after sunset to catch the full moon on 1st August.
Supermoons occur at perigee: the point in the Moon’s orbit where it’s closest to Earth, and they are generally defined as when a new moon or full moon coincides with being within 90% of its closest approach, ~359,000km. A perigean full moon appears a little brighter and larger than an average full moon and is known by some as a ‘supermoon’. This supermoon will be 357,530 km from Earth, but there is a slightly closer supermoon at the end of the month. Check out this blog on Supermoons from Elspeth Lewis in our Education team: https://www.spacecentre.co.uk/news/space-now-blog/supermoons/
3rd August – close approach / conjunction of the Moon and Saturn
During the late morning of 3rd August, the Moon will be in conjunction (sharing the same right ascension – coordinate) with Saturn. Unfortunately, both will be below the horizon so will not be visible. But look to the south-east from around 11:00pm to catch the waxing gibbous moon in close approach with Saturn. It would be helpful to have a clear view of the horizon without tall buildings and trees to view them. The Moon will be closer to the horizon with Saturn a little higher up and to the west in the sky. They’ll both be visible in the sky from around 11:00pm until dawn the next morning when Saturn will become drowned out by sunlight. Find out more about conjunctions and other astronomical phenomena in our blog written by David Southworth in our Education Team: Astronomical phenomena (spacecentre.co.uk).
8th August – close approach / conjunction of the Moon and Jupiter
During mid-morning on 8th August, the last quarter moon will be in conjunction (sharing the same right ascension – coordinate) with Jupiter. But during the daytime, it won’t be possible to see Jupiter, so catch the pair before the Sun rises that morning. Look for the pair in the east during the very early morning of 8th August when they’ll appear in close approach. You should be able to spot the Moon with Jupiter just below. Check out the astronomical phenomena blog above to find out more about conjunctions and other astronomical phenomena.
12th/13th August – peak of the Perseid meteor shower
One of the best annual meteor showers, with ~ 100 meteors per hour at its peak, produced by dust left behind by Comet Swift-Tuttle. The shower peaks on the evening of 12th August into the early morning of 13th August and because new moon falls on 16th August this month, there will be little moonlight interference from the thin crescent moon (only in the predawn hours). It’s still worth viewing from as dark a location as possible. The radiant will appear in the north-east rising higher into the sky as the night unfolds. Find an open location with clear views of the horizon and face north-east looking away from the radiant in the constellation of Perseus and scanning the entire starry canvas above as meteors can appear anywhere in the sky. A blog about the Perseid meteor shower 2023 will soon be up on our website: https://www.spacecentre.co.uk/news/space-now-blog/
16th August – new moon (10:38am)
The new moon on 16th will occur in the constellation of Leo. We have a blog on ‘phases of the moon’ written by Mike Darch in our Space Comms team: What are the Phases of the Moon? (spacecentre.co.uk).
17th August – NASA’s Crew-7 launch
The seventh crewed operational flight of a Crew Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program includes NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli, European Space Agency astronaut Andreas Mogensen, Japanese astronaut Satoshi Furukawa, and Russian cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov. They are due to launch around midday UK-time on 17th August on board the Crew Dragon Endurance spacecraft atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Kennedy Space Centre. Crew-6 are due to return home shortly after launch, giving a few days for crew handover. Having launched in March, NASA’s Stephen Bowen and Warren Hoburg, with Emirati Sultan Al Neyadi and Roscosmos’ Andrey Fedyaev, will return to Earth on their Crew Dragon spacecraft, Endeavour, after a 6-month stint in space.
26th August – ISRO launches Aditya-L1 mission
Aditya L1 mission is the first space based Indian mission dedicated to observing the Sun, and is scheduled to be launched aboard a PSLV-XL launch vehicle from Sathish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, India, on 26 August 2023. The spacecraft will be placed in a halo orbit around Lagrange point 1, L1, 1.5 million km from Earth (in the direction of the Sun) and will investigate space weather by observing the Sun’s corona and its influence on the Earth’s climate. Following launch it will take around 109 days to reach L1 and when operational will use its four remote sensing payloads and three in-situ observation payloads to study the solar upper atmospheric (chromosphere and corona) dynamics. Its insight will hopefully provide a greater advantage of observing the solar activities and its effect on space weather in real time.
26th August – launch of SLIM mission
The Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) is a Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) mission designed to demonstrate accurate lunar landing techniques by a small explorer, with the objective of acceleration of the study of the Moon and planets using lighter exploration systems. The techniques demonstrated by this mission will pave the way for future lunar sample return missions. SLIM is scheduled to launch in the early hours (UK-time) of 26th August as a "ride-share" payload with the XRISM mission on an H2A booster from the Tanegashima Space Center in Japan, currently scheduled for 26th August.
27th August – Saturn at opposition
Because Earth and Saturn have different orbits and orbital speeds, the distance between them is constantly changing. On 27th August, appearing in the constellation of Aquarius, Saturn will be on the opposite side of the Earth compared to the Sun so it will be at its closest approach to Earth and its face will be fully illuminated by the Sun. The Sun, Earth, and Saturn will be in ‘syzygy’ or a roughly straight-line configuration. At the time of opposition, Saturn will be brighter than at any other time of the year and will be visible all night long making it the best time to view and photograph the planet. It will appear as a bright yellow point visible with the naked eye. Catch the spectacle from the late evening on 27th August – ideally looking towards the south around midnight. Saturn won’t be very high in the sky so try to find an open viewing area without tall buildings and trees that may block your view. Check out the astronomical phenomena blog above to find out more about oppositions and other astronomical phenomena.
30th August – close approach / conjunction of the Moon and Saturn
On the evening of 30th August, whilst still below the horizon so not visible to us, the near full moon will be in conjunction (sharing the same right ascension – coordinate) with Saturn. Wait until after 9:00pm when both will be above the south-eastern horizon to catch the pair in close approach. The pair will rise higher into the sky for the next few hours so make sure to have a clear view of the horizon without tall building and trees, especially if viewing in the earlier part of the evening. Saturn will lie just above the Moon. Check out the astronomical phenomena blog above to find out more about conjunctions and other astronomical phenomena.
31st August – full moon (2:35am) / supermoon
As the second full moon of the month, it’s known as a Blue moon. You can find out more about Blue moons in the FAQ section of the “Full Moon: Full Facts” blog linked above. Catch the Moon during the late evening of 30th August into the early morning of 31st August.
Supermoons occur at perigee: the point in the Moon’s orbit where it’s closest to Earth and are generally defined as when a new moon or full moon coincides with being within 90% of its closest approach ~359,000km. A perigean full moon appears a little brighter and larger than an average full moon and is known by some as a ‘supermoon’. This supermoon will be 357,344 km from Earth – making it the closest supermoon of 2023. Check out the supermoon blog above to find out more.