From the unusually fascinating full moon of the month to the SpaceX Crew-9 mission, here are some of August’s most anticipated astronomical phenomena and rocket launches.
The SpaceX Crew-9 mission is intended to launch sometime in August, though a precise launch window has not yet been chosen. The mission will be the ninth crewed operational NASA Commercial Crew flight using a Crew Dragon spacecraft, and will carry four crew members to the International Space Station. The crew consists of NASA Commander Zena Cardman, geobiologist and astronaut who will be completing her first spaceflight on the Crew-9 mission; NASA Pilot Nick Hague, United States Space Force colonel who has acted as a crew member on two previous Soyuz spaceflights; NASA Mission Specialist Stephanie Wilson, who has taken part in three Space Shuttle missions and was the second African American woman to go to space; and Roscosmos Mission Specialist Aleksandr Gorbunov, who worked as a Lieutenant for the Russian Armed Forces before joining the Russian Cosmonaut Corps. The crew will spend six months on the International Space Station, where they will replace the four members of the Crew-8 crew, who arrived in March, to complete maintenance and research onboard the station.
The ideal time to attempt to view the 2024 Perseids meteor shower is predicted to be the early morning of August 13. Though the moon will be 50% illuminated during the peak, which could interfere with observation, it will set close to midnight on August 12, leaving perfectly dark skies until dawn the next day. The Perseids meteor shower is active each year from from July 14 to August 24, and is often recognized as being one of the most spectacular annual meteor showers. It has an average rate of 100 meteors per hour, though “outburst years” occasionally occur. During these outbursts, closer to 200 meteors per hour could be visible. The parent comet of the Perseids meteor shower, or Comet Swift-Tuttle, is one of the largest objects that has crossed paths with Earth multiple times. It has a diameter of over 26 kilometers, which is over two times the size of the asteroid believed to have killed the dinosaurs.
The full moon of the month, or the Sturgeon Moon, will reach peak visibility at 2:26 PM (Eastern Time) on August 19. Named for the great lake sturgeon that is commonly caught during this time of year, this moon is also regularly referred to as the Harvest Moon, the Flying Up Moon, the Ricing Moon, and the Black Cherries Moon. This will also be the only Blue Moon of 2024. There are two types of Blue Moons: seasonal (which NASA defines as “the third Full Moon of an astronomical season that has four Full Moons”) and monthly (when two Full Moons take place in one month, the second is considered a monthly Blue Moon). The Sturgeon Moon will be a seasonal Blue Moon. Blue Moons only occur approximately once every two to three years, and inspired the commonly used phrase “once in a Blue Moon”. Additionally, the Sturgeon Moon will be a supermoon, meaning that it will appear larger and brighter than usual. This takes place when a full moon occurs close to perigee, or the closest point in its orbit around Earth.
Though August will provide slightly fewer exciting astronomy events than the months prior, it is still sure to offer up many opportunities to observe stunning annual meteor showers and experience historic rocket launches in real-time.