The Orion Stage Adapter for Artemis II was completed at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center and will ship to Kennedy Space Center, with Artemis II planned as a 10-day crewed lunar trip around the Moon by April 2026. NASA announced Phase 2 of its LunaRecycle challenge offering up to $2 million in prizes to prototype…
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Perseid meteor shower peaks August 11–12 (into the pre-dawn hours) with an 84% full Moon washing out fainter meteors, so expected rates drop to about 10–20 per hour instead of the usual 50–100. The best viewing window is midnight to dawn, with a peak surge around 2–3 a.m. local time as the Perseid radiant in…
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The Perseids peak on August 12–13, 2025, as Earth passes through the densest part of Swift-Tuttle’s debris, with the official peak around 02:30–03:00 UTC on August 13. The Moon will be a bright waning gibbous at about 83–84% illumination during peak, severely reducing counts from the typical 50–100 meteors per hour to about 10–20 per…
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The Perseid meteor shower peaks on the night of August 12 into the early hours of August 13, 2025. The peak occurs three days after a full moon, so bright moonlight reduces fainter meteors and you may see about 10–20 meteors per hour under moonlit skies. In North America and Europe, the peak is the…
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StellaLyra 8″ f/6 and Apertura AD8 are both 203 mm (8″) parabolic-mirror Dobsonians with a 1200 mm focal length (≈ f/6). Vaonis Vespera II uses a 50 mm f/5 quadruplet apochromatic refractor with a built‑in camera and a Sony IMX585 sensor (8.3 MP). The StellaLyra and Apertura are manual Dobsonians on wooden alt-az mounts, while…
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The Celestron NexStar 8SE is a 203 mm Schmidt-Cassegrain with a GoTo computerized fork mount and f/10 optics, delivering bright, detailed views but at a high price for beginners. The Sky-Watcher 8-inch Dobsonian is a 203 mm reflector on a manual alt-azimuth mount with f/6, offering a large light bucket at low cost but no…
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The Venus–Jupiter conjunction occurs August 11–13, 2025, with its closest approach on August 12 at about 0.86° apart. Venus will shine around magnitude -4.0 and Jupiter around -1.8 to -2 during the pairing. The pair sits about 35° from the Sun, enabling viewing in a dark dawn sky. Observers should view about 45 minutes to…
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On August 23, 2025, the Moon undergoes a seasonal Black Moon New Moon in Virgo at 06:06 UTC, the third New Moon in a season with four. The Dumbbell Nebula, M27, in Vulpecula is a bright planetary nebula visible throughout August 2025 and was first discovered by Charles Messier in 1764. Mars in August 2025…
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On August 10, six planets—Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune—will line up in a broad arc in the pre-dawn sky. Four of these planets (Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn) are visible to the naked eye, while Uranus and Neptune require binoculars or a small telescope. NASA notes that planetary parades of this kind occur only…
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Sept. 7, 2025 – Corn Moon full moon coincides with a total lunar eclipse (Blood Moon) visible in Asia, Africa, and Australia. Oct. 6–7, 2025 – Harvest Moon is a near-perigee supermoon, peaking around 11:48 PM EDT, with the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival celebrated across China and Asia. Nov. 5, 2025 – Beaver Moon is a…
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