August 2026 – What’s Up!

Week of 17th August

• Astronomical Twilight ends at 22:45 BST at the start of the week and at 22:25 BST by the end of the week.
• Venus (-4.3) sets at around 21:30 BST this week; spot the bright planet in the western evening sky. Saturn is now an evening object, rising at 21:58 BST. Early risers can enjoy a view of Mars in the east as it rises around 01:22 BST.
• We look to the eastern sky for our Deep Sky Challenge this week, starting with the open cluster Messier 52 (+6.9) in Cassiopeia. Then down to our first view of M31, the Andromeda Galaxy (+3.4), this season. Finish with perennial favourite the Double Cluster (+5.3), catalogued as NGC 869 and NGC 884, in Perseus on the border with Cassiopeia.
• The Moon is First Quarter on Thursday.
• The Sun currently has 8 active regions and the sunspot number is 111.
• There are no visible evening ISS passes this week (click here for full ISS pass details).

Week of 10th August

• Astronomical Twilight ends at 23:09 BST at the start of the week and at 22:48 BST by the end of the week.
• There is a solar eclipse on Wednesday – totality is visible from Iceland and Spain, while in Marlborough we will see a 90% partial eclipse. First contact is at 18:17 BST, maximum eclipse at 19:13 BST and last contact at 20:07 BST. Look to the setting Sun in the west, but take great care, you should only look directly at the Sun through a suitable solar filter, even at maximum eclipse. Good luck with your eclipse viewing!
• The Perseid meteor shower peaks on Wednesday. This is one of the best meteor showers of the year and with it coinciding with New Moon, it should be a vintage year! The maximum rate is around 150 meteors per hour, but you might expect to see around 80 or so an hour. Look anywhere in the sky, but you will notice that they all appear to originate from the constellation Perseus, hence the name. The shower’s progenitor is comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle.
• Venus (-4.3) reaches greatest eastern elongation on Thursday. Spot the bright planet in the western evening sky before it sets at 21:42 BST.
• There is so much going on this week that there is no need for a deep sky challenge; good luck with viewing the eclipse and spotting Perseid meteors!
• The Moon is New on Wednesday.
• The Sun currently has 5 active regions and the sunspot number is 62.
• There are no visible evening ISS passes this week (click here for full ISS pass details).

Week of 3rd August

• Astronomical Twilight ends at 23:35 BST at the start of the week and at 23:12 BST by the end of the week.
• Venus (-4.2) sets at around 22:11 BST this week. Saturn (+0.6) rises at 22:46 BST, and Mars (+1.3) follows at 01:37 BST.
• Two globular clusters are this week’s Deep Sky Challenge: start with M2 (+6.6) in Aquarius at 38,000 light years away, then on to nearby M15 (+6.3) in Pegasus at the slightly closer distance of 34,000 light years.
• The Moon is Last Quarter on Thursday.
• The Sun currently has 6 active regions and the sunspot number is 104.
• There are no visible evening ISS passes this week (click here for full ISS pass details).