What's Happening in Space: August 2026

(Image credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls)

A summary of space events through the month

While the night skies are still so clear and the evenings warm, enjoy some of the amazing star gazing opportunities this August.

On Wednesday the 12th August, the UK will be treated to a partial solar eclipse - the best one visible from the UK for the next several decades!

This month we are also excited for the launch of the Nancy Grace Roman telescope which arrived at the Kennedy Space Centre in June! Named for NASA's first chief astronomer and 'mother of the Hubble Space Telescope', Roman is going to offer a field of view over 100 times larger than Hubbles' to study up to a billion galaxies!

Thanks to our Space Expert, Dhara Patel for his informative advice this month.

Throughout August - Spot the International Space Station

From Leicester, there may be sightings throughout August to spot the International Space Station (ISS) moving across the sky. Download NASA’s Spot the Station app using the App Store or Google Play to find out when and where to spot the largest artificial satellite overhead from your location. It’ll look like a bright star moving relatively quickly across the sky (generally from west to east) and will be visible to the naked eye. While there are no sightings from Leicester visible for the first week of August, there may be some opportunities later in the month.      

Stargazing Challenges

Throughout August – Stargazing challenges

Each month, we'll be sharing some stargazing challenges for everyone to have a go at. From spotting the Moon and familiar star patterns, to catching meteor showers and eclipses. Check out our Stargazing Challenges – August 2026 blog for more details.

3rd - 4th August (and 31st August) - Moon and Saturn Close in the Sky

The Moon will be in conjunction (sharing the same right ascension – coordinate) with Saturn shortly before sunrise on 4 August but they’ll appear at their closest from just before midnight on 3 August, so the pair will be visible throughout the night and early morning, gradually rising higher above the horizon. Around midnight they’ll be low in the east with Saturn nestled below the waning gibbous moon and by sunrise they’ll be positioned higher in the south – but be sure to catch the duo before daylight drowns out the celestial show. Saturn will look like a bright point of light visible to the naked eye. The pair will appear together again at the end of the month – look to the south in the hours before sunrise on 31 August to spot Saturn sitting below the waning gibbous moon once more. While they’ll be visible from around 22:00 on 30 August as they rise in the east, they’ll appear at their closest around 3:30 the following morning further in the south. Check out the astronomical phenomena blog linked above to find out more about close approaches and conjunctions and other astronomical phenomena.

9th August - Moon and Mars Close in the Sky

The waning crescent moon will be observable near Mars in the east during the early morning of 9 August – visible to the naked eye before sunrise. The Moon will be in conjunction (sharing the same right ascension – coordinate) with Mars and they’ll be at their closest approach around 6:30 that morning but the brightness of daylight will mean they’ll have disappeared from view by then. Ideally look to the east before 5:00 to spot Mars sitting under the Moon in the predawn sky. The pair will creep above the horizon around 1:00 and will rise higher throughout the early morning so you’ll want to find the sweet spot of it being early and dark enough to spot their light vs. it being closer to the time of sunrise when they’re higher above the horizon and easier to locate. Check out the astronomical phenomena blog linked above to find out more about close approaches and conjunctions and other astronomical phenomena.

11th August - Moon, Mercury and Jupiter Close in the Sky

The extremely thin waning crescent moon will be observable near Mercury in the north-east during a short window before sunrise on 11 August and will be visible to the naked eye. The Moon will sit above, with Mercury positioned a little below it appearing as a star-like point. If you’ve got clear views of the horizon without tall buildings and trees that may block your view, you may also catch Jupiter, another naked-eye planet’ nestled further beneath Mercury and just creeping above the horizon – but it will be tricky to spot as the light of the rising Sun will make it difficult. The Moon and Mercury should be visible from about 4:30 and Jupiter will join the scene shortly after 5:00 but with sunrise only half an hour later, the sky will begin to be flooded with daylight by this time. All three will be close to the horizon so trying to find the clearest views of the northeastern horizon will give you the best chance of observing them. Check out the astronomical phenomena blog linked above to find out more about close approaches and conjunctions and other astronomical phenomena.

12th August - New Moon (18:36)

The new moon will occur in the constellation of Leo. The lack of moonlight interference provides a great time to try and view deep sky objects (especially with the aid of binoculars and telescopes). We have a blog on Moon phases written by Mike Darch in our Education team.

12th - 13th August - Peak of the Perseid Meteor Shower

The Perseids is one of the best annual meteor showers, with ~ 100 meteors per hour at its peak and is produced by dust left behind by Comet Swift-Tuttle. The shower peaks on the evening of 12 August into the early morning of 13 August – so one to catch straight after the partial solar eclipse! With the Moon in its new moon phase, we couldn’t ask for more ideal viewing conditions as there won’t be moonlight to drown out the fainter meteors. Saying that, you’ll still need to find a dark location to view from to ensure urban street, building and vehicle lights don’t ruin your observations. The radiant (the point in the sky in the constellation of Pereus where the meteors from this shower will appear to radiate from) will rise in the north-east and move higher into the sky as the night unfolds. Find an open location with clear views of the horizon and face north-east, but scan the entire starry canvas above using just your eyes, as meteors can appear anywhere in the sky. Check out the Perseid Meteor Shower blog to find out more.

16th August - Moon and Venus Close in the Sky

The Moon will be in conjunction (sharing the same right ascension – coordinate) with Venus and they’ll be at their closest approach on the morning of 16 August, however the duo will be below the horizon at this time and therefore unobservable. Instead wait until the Sun begins to set later that day and look to the southwest to catch Venus positioned to the right of the waxing crescent moon. By the time the sky darkens enough to see the pair, they’ll be low on the horizon so be sure to find a location without tall buildings and trees that may block your view of the southwest. Being one of Earth’s closest planets and with a thick atmosphere that reflects sunlight well, Venus will appear as a bright star-like point. Try looking for the pair around 20:30 but be sure to head out before 21:00 as they’ll begin to set below the horizon by then. Check out the astronomical phenomena blog linked above to find out more about close approaches and conjunctions and other astronomical phenomena.

24th August - Launch of Chang'e 7

With a planned launch of 01:00 on 24 August from the Wenchang Space Launch Site in China, atop a Long March 5 rocket, Chang’e7 (which includes an orbiter, lander, mini-hopping probe and a rover) is set to lift off and travel to the lunar South Pole regions to study the surface environment there, and to specifically look for water ice in the lunar soil. The orbiter is set to map resources and conduct surveys of the polar environment from above while the lander will deliver surface tools and the rover to the rim of Shackleton crater. The rover will then explore nearby terrain with a panoramic camera and radar, as the hopper jumps directly into the dark, cold craters to analyse soil samples with a water molecule analyser instrument. Chang’e 7 is part of the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program that has previously sent robotic missions to orbit the Moon, then land on the Moon (including the far side), as well as conduct sample return missions – Chang’e 6 in 2024 retrieved the first ever samples from the lunar far side! Chang’e 7 and 8 will focus on exploring the lunar south pole in preparation for China’s planned crewed lunar landing by 2030.

28th August - Partial Lunar Eclipse (05:12)

Look to the south-west just before sunrise to spot a partial lunar eclipse.  From just after 03:30 you’ll be able to see an increasingly larger ‘bite’ being taken out of the Moon’s left edge as it passes behind the Earth and into the inner part of our planet’s shadow known as the umbra. From the UK a total lunar eclipse won’t be visible, but we’ll see almost 94% obscuration from Leicester as it reaches maximum at 05:12. You will need a really clear view of the western horizon as it will be very low in the sky. As the Moon passes further into the Earth’s shadow, it will turn a reddish colour looking like a ‘blood moon’ appearing with a reddish hue at maximum. The Moon will then continue to pass back out of the Earth’s shadow, eventually returning to its normal full moon appearance – but the Moon will set below the horizon, before the partial lunar eclipse ends just before 07:00, so you won’t be able to catch the very end. Find out more in our blog: ‘What is a lunar eclipse?’ written by our Duty Manager Daniel Milankovic.

28th August - Full Moon (05:18)

Known as the Sturgeon Moon (according to the old Farmers’ Almanac), this full moon is named by North American fishing tribes who realised the sturgeon fish were abundant in this month. The indigenous Cree culture uses Flying Up Moon instead, to note the time of year when young birds learn to fly and leave their nests. Check out the Full Moon and Full Facts blog written by Mike Darch in our Education team to find out more.

August - Isar Spectrum Flight Two / RFA One

In 2025, a first attempt was made by Isar Aerospace, from Andøya Spaceport in Norway to launch an orbital-class rocket from European soil. In this test flight the rocket crashed roughly 20–30 seconds after launch and did not reach orbit. Both Spectrum Flight Two (again by Isar Aerospace, launching from Andøya Spaceport in Norway) and Rocket Factory Augsburg's (RFA) rocket set to launch from the SaxaVord Spaceport in Scotland on the RFA ONE demo flight, are on the verge of becoming the first successful orbital flight from European soil. Delayed multiple times from earlier this year (postponed due to a defective valve and then due to a boat entering the exclusion zone around the launch site during the launch window, amongst other more recent setbacks), Spectrum Flight Two now has a scheduled launch date of no earlier than 6 August and is expected to carry 5 CubeSats and 1 non-separable experiment into a Sun-Synchronous Orbit. RFA One are also targeting a launch no earlier than August, but a date has yet to be set for this mission.

August – ZhuQue-3 flight 2

In July, China successfully executed its first reusable rocket landing. The orbital class rocket - Long March 10B, returned its first stage booster to a sea-based recovery site where it was caught via a giant cable net in the South China Sea. This August we may see LandSpace (a Chinese private aerospace enterprise) become the nation’s first commercial company to achieve the same feat. Designed for heavy low-Earth orbit payloads to compete with SpaceX, the Zhuque-3 reusable rocket is set for its second test launch this August. After the initial attempt in December 2025 ended with the first-stage booster crashing just metres away from the intended landing pad during the vertical landing attempt, the primary goal of this second flight will be to retest the first-stage booster’s vertical landing and recovery procedures, to prove the Zhuque-3 as a functioning reusable rocket.