Topline<\/p>\n
With the Perseid meteor shower fading and the total solar eclipse now over, attention turns to the next major event in the night sky. A waxing moon glides past Venus, Spica and Antares this week, while the Milky Way remains spectacular under increasingly moonlit skies. It\u2019s also the perfect time to prepare for Aug. 27\u201328\u2019s deep partial lunar eclipse, when 96% of the moon will pass through Earth\u2019s dark shadow in the finest lunar eclipse visible anywhere on Earth until the end of 2028. Here\u2019s everything you need to know about stargazing this week, Aug. 17-23.<\/p>\n
The crescent Moon and, to its left, planet Venus, make for beautiful scenery at Paranal, Chile, the sight of ESO\u2019s Very Large Telescope.<\/p>\n
ESO\/Y. BeletskyTimeline<\/p>\n
Monday, Aug. 17Look southwest about 45 minutes after sunset for the sight of a 30%-lit waxing crescent moon close to bright star Spica and Venus. The three will form a rough line.<\/p>\n
Tuesday, Aug. 18Now 40%-lit, the waxing crescent moon will be farther from Spica and Venus, but the alignment is still there to see.<\/p>\n
Thursday, Aug. 20Look to the southwest after dark to see a 60%-lit waxing gibbous moon just beneath Antares, the brightest star in the constellation Scorpius. Antares is known as the \u201crival of Mars\u201d because of its reddish color \u2014 and because the two pass close to each other every few years.<\/p>\n
Look southwest about 45 minutes after sunset on Monday, Aug. 17, for the sight of a 30%-lit waxing crescent moon close to bright star Spica and Venus.<\/p>\n
StellariumTHE SKY AFTER A METEOR SHOWER<\/p>\n
With the Perseids past their peak, meteor rates drop quickly, but they do not stop. You may still see occasional meteors this week, especially in the hours after midnight. However, what to focus on isn\u2019t the possibility of \u201cshooting stars,\u201d but the Milky Way. It arches high overhead after dark, running from the northeast through the zenith and down toward the southwest. Best seen at the beginning of the week before the moon becomes bright, this band of light is the combined glow of about 400 billion distant stars within our galaxy. When you look at it, you are looking along the plane of the Milky Way, into regions rich with star formation, dust lanes and clusters. Late August is one of the best times to see the Milky Way from the Northern Hemisphere.<\/p>\n
The full moon on Aug. 27\u201328, 2026 will also be a very deep partial lunar eclipse. (Photo by Gary Hershorn\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Getty ImagesPREPARING FOR THE PARTIAL LUNAR ECLIPSE<\/p>\n
The full moon on Aug. 27\u201328, 2026 will be something special \u2014 a very deep partial lunar eclipse. During the event, 96% of the lunar disk will pass into Earth\u2019s umbra, the dark central part of its shadow. It will be the most impressive lunar eclipse visible anywhere on Earth until the total lunar eclipse on Dec. 31, 2028. At maximum eclipse, only a thin sliver of the moon will remain in direct sunlight while the rest glows shades of copper, orange and deep red as sunlight is filtered through Earth\u2019s atmosphere. Although technically not a true \u201cblood moon\u201d because the moon never reaches totality, it will closely resemble one. The eclipse will be visible across North and South America, Europe and Africa, with the best views from the Americas, where the entire event occurs in a dark sky during the dark of night. Including its penumbral and partial phases, the eclipse will last about 5 hours and 38 minutes, with the partial phase alone lasting 3 hours and 27 minutes.<\/p>\n
The times and dates given apply to mid-northern latitudes. For the most accurate location-specific information, consult online planetariums like Stellarium<\/a>.<\/p>\n Further readingForbesYour Ultimate Travel Guide To The 2026 Total Solar EclipseBy Jamie Carter<\/a>ForbesYour Ultimate Guide To Stargazing And Astronomy In 2026By Jamie Carter<\/a>Forbes7 Spectacular Stargazing Events To See This SummerBy Jamie Carter<\/a>ForbesThe Perseid Meteor Shower Begins Today: When To WatchBy Jamie Carter<\/a>ForbesComet Tonight: How To See Comet 10P\/Tempel 2 Now From Where You AreBy Jamie Carter<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Topline With the Perseid meteor shower fading and the total solar eclipse now over, attention turns to the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":641307,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[77],"tags":[209737,271230,18,271231,19,17,27886,260771,260767,133,260770,271229,260773],"class_list":["post-641306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-astronomy-this-week","tag-crescent-moon-venus-august-16","tag-eire","tag-evening-star-venus-2026","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-lunar-eclipse","tag-milky-way-august-sky","tag-night-sky-this-week-august-2026","tag-science","tag-stargazing-august-2026","tag-venus-crescent-august-2026","tag-visible-planets-august"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117109425894817206","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641306","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=641306"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641306\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/641307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=641306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=641306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=641306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}