Whether you’re into full moons because of their rumoured effects on sleep, mood, or werewolf activity, you just love a bit of astronomy knowledge, or you just like to look up at them, August’s full moon is worth a look.
Beyond the folklore, this month’s full moon marks an important point in the lunar calendar, with seasonal significance. Here’s when it’s due, what it’s called, and what it means.
When is the August full moon?
August’s full moon will take place on Saturday, August 9. The previous full moon was on July 10.
According to Astronomy.com, August’s full moon will peak at 3:55 am ET.
What is the August full moon called?
The full moons each have a name, a tradition that comes from early cultures using the lunar cycle to track time and seasonal changes.
August’s full moon is known as the Sturgeon Moon, according to NASA.
When is the next full moon?
The next full moon predicted to occur on Sept. 7, 2025, according to Royal Museums Greenwich.
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What are the lunar phases?
The full moon is just one day of the lunar phase, which is a 29.5-day cycle of the moon’s orbit. Moon phases are how the moon looks from Earth as it goes around us. We always see the same side of the moon, but how much of it is lit up by the Sun changes depending on where it is in its orbit. This is how we get full moons, half moons, and moons that appear completely invisible. There are eight main moon phases, and they follow a repeating cycle:
New Moon – The moon is between Earth and the sun, so the side we see is dark (in other words, it’s invisible to the eye).
Waxing Crescent – A small sliver of light appears on the right side (Northern Hemisphere).
First Quarter – Half of the moon is lit on the right side. It looks like a half-moon.
Waxing Gibbous – More than half is lit up, but it’s not quite full yet.
Full Moon – The whole face of the moon is illuminated and fully visible.
Waning Gibbous – The moon starts losing light on the right side.
Last Quarter (or Third Quarter) – Another half-moon, but now the left side is lit.
Waning Crescent – A thin sliver of light remains on the left side before going dark again.
Astronomers have spotted two massive galaxies locked in a cosmic tug-of-war 700 million light-years from Earth — and for the first time in such a nearby galaxy, watched as a faint stream of stars is being pulled from one into the other.
The observations, made in the galaxy cluster Abell 3667, revealed a faint, million light-year-long bridge of stars connecting its two brightest galaxies. Astronomers say the cluster is actually the result of two smaller clusters that began merging about a billion years ago, each with its own dominant central galaxy. As these giants — and their satellite galaxies — continue to merge, the bridge of stars between them offers rare insights into the clusters’ history and the powerful gravitational forces at play.
“This is the first time a feature of this scale and size has been found in a local galaxy cluster,” Anthony Englert, a Ph.D. candidate at Brown University in Rhode Island, who led a new paper describing the observations, said in a statement. “It was a huge surprise that we were able to image such a faint feature.”
The bridge is made of intracluster light, or ICL, a diffuse glow from stars that have been stripped from their home galaxies by intense gravitational forces. Englert and his team were able to detect this dim bridge by stacking 28 hours of observations taken over several years using the Dark Energy Camera at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile.
“It was just a happy coincidence that so many people had imaged Abell 3667 over the years, and we were able to stack all of those observations together,” Englert said in the statement.
At the top of the bridge lies the lenticular (disc-shaped) galaxy IC 4965, along with a small group of galaxies that are still falling into the cluster. At the bottom of it is JO171, a striking “jellyfish galaxy” named for the long tendrils of gas trailing from one side. As it merges into Abell 3667, JO171 is being stripped of gas, shutting down star formation in part of its ring-like structure, according to the statement.
An image from the Dark Energy Camera of Abell 3667 (Image credit: CTIO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA)
Beyond its visual beauty, the light bridge also provides a valuable probe of dark matter, the invisible substance believed to make up roughly 80% of the universe’s mass. Because intracluster light tends to trace the same paths as dark matter, it offers an indirect way to map its distribution, astronomers say.
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“The distribution of this light should mirror the distribution of dark matter, so it provides an indirect way to ‘see’ the dark matter,” study co-author Ian Dell’Antonio of Brown University said in the statement.
The study also highlights the kind of discoveries that are expected to soon become routine with the upcoming Vera C. Rubin Observatory, scheduled to begin full operations later this year or in early 2026. Rubin’s Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) will map the southern sky in unprecedented detail over a 10-year period using the world’s largest digital camera, bringing to light galaxy clusters like Abell 3667.
“What we did is just a small sliver of what Rubin is going to be able to do,” Englert said in the statement. “It’s really going to blow the study of the ICL wide open.”
This research is described in a paper published Aug. 5 in The Astrophysical Journal.
While hiking through Peru’s dense Amazon rainforest the other day, entomologist Phil Torres spotted a creature that most people tend to overlook. After carefully scooping up a pile of dead leaves, Torres sorted through the foliage one by one until one of them began to flutter.
“One of these leaves is actually an animal,” Torres said in a Facebook video.
The last “leaf” in Torres’ hand was a cricket-like insect called a katydid. While katydids share some similarities with crickets, like long back legs that allow them to jump and make sounds, there’s something that sets them apart from the rest: their unique ability to camouflage into their surroundings.
“Its legs look like a stick. Its wings look like a leaf,” Torres explained. “It even has little holes in it, as if it’s an old leaf. It’s got little notches taken out of it. It’s got veins just like a leaf. Incredible amount of detail.”
You can see Torres sort through the leaf pile here:
The holes in the katydid’s body may seem like the result of an accident, but the small perforations serve a purpose; one that’s evolved over millions of years.
“Cryptically colored species, which blend in with the environment, rely primarily on the mimicry of vegetation,” Britannica wrote on its website. “The peacock katydid, for example, precisely mimics the discoloration of a dead leaf.”
You can see the katydid’s detailed wings here:
Torres was able to identify the peacock katydid just by seeing his body, reminiscent of dead foliage. But there was one test left to confirm his findings.
“Nothing about this looks like a peacock right now,” Torres said. “But wait until you see its defensive display.”
With a light tap on his wings, Torres activated the katydid’s defense mechanism. The dead leaf-like insect extended his wings, revealing a bright red and orange design mimicking a predator’s eyes.
You can see the katydid’s outstretched wings here:
Thankfully, this katydid was in safe company with Torres, who just wanted to admire the unique insect. The dedicated entomologist has encountered countless fascinating insects, but the peacock katydid remains one of the most impressive.
“This thing is absolutely incredible,” Torres said.
To keep up with Phil Torres’ wildlife encounters, you can follow him on Facebook and Instagram.
Left to right, Crew-10 Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov, NASA astronauts Nichole Ayers and Anne McClain, and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Takuya Onishi pose for a group portrait inside the International Space Station’s Kibo laboratory module. NASA Photo
Aug. 8 (UPI) — Members of the Crew-10 were preparing on Friday night to depart from the International Space Station aboard the Dragon 9 spacecraft.
The undocking was scheduled for 6:05 p.m. EDT, with splashdown targeted for 11:33 a.m. Saturday off the Southern California coast. This will be the first time a crewed mission will splash down in the Pacific Ocean after SpaceX’s recovery ship Shannon moved in December from Port Canaveral, Fla., to near Long Beach.
Afterward, the four Crew-10 members will be flown to Houston.
The undocking of the Dragon, called Endurance, was scheduled for Thursday afternoon, but high winds in the splashdown area delayed it.
Those aboard the NASA/Space X Crew-10 are NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Takuya Onishi and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov. Science samples will return with them.
“Crew-10 has had the absolute privilege of working here for the last four months, and we have so much gratitude for all of the ground teams that showed up every day to make this possible,” McClain said during a farewell ceremony on Tuesday on the space station.
“We truly are very humbled to represent humanity, and we hope that we can be a reminder to others of the goodness of humanity and what we really can accomplish when we work together,” she added.
It was Endurance’s fourth mission dating to 2021.
SpaceX’s Crew-11 members Zena Cardman, Mike Fincke, Kimiya Yui and Oleg Platonov docked at the space station Saturday.
Who will be the next human to leave their footprint on the surface of the Moon?
They were the pioneers of space exploration – the 24 Nasa astronauts who travelled to the Moon in the Apollo missions of the 1960s and 1970s.
The loss of Apollo 13 commander Jim Lovell, who guided the stricken mission safely back to Earth in 1970, means there are now just five people remaining who have escaped the relative safety of Earth orbit and ventured deeper into space.
Now, more than 50 years on, the race to put people back on the lunar surface is heating up once again.
Nasa hopes its Artemis programme will lead to astronauts living on the Moon this decade. China is also aiming to have people on the lunar surface by 2030, having landed a probe on the far side of the Moon in June 2024.
A number of private companies have tried to send scientific craft to the Moon, although the mishaps have outnumbered the successes.
Nasa had intended to launch Artemis 2, its first crewed lunar expedition since Apollo 17 in 1972, last year but that date has slipped into 2026, as the space agency says it needs more time to prepare.
Meanwhile, companies such as SpaceX and Boeing continue to develop their own technology, although not without their setbacks.
The issues with Boeing’s Starliner which left two astronauts stranded on the International Space Station were embarrassing for the aerospace giant, while the “rapid unscheduled disassemblies” of SpaceX’s Starship have become a customary sight to space watchers.
These delays highlight the sad fact that the number of remaining Apollo astronauts is dwindling.
NASA
Apollo 13 was Jim Lovell’s final mission
Along with Frank Borman and Bill Anders, Jim Lovell made history when the three undertook the first lunar mission on Apollo 8, testing the Command/Service Module and its life support systems in preparation for the later Apollo 11 landing.
Their craft actually made 10 orbits of the Moon before returning home. Lovell was later supposed be the fifth human to walk on the lunar surface as commander of Apollo 13 – but of course, that never happened.
Instead the story of his brush with death was immortalised in the film Apollo 13, in which he was played by Tom Hanks.
Watch: Moment Jim Lovell told earth “Houston, we’ve had a problem” as Apollo 13 suffered a fault
Following his retirement from Nasa in 1973, Lovell worked in the telecoms industry. Marilyn, his wife of more than 60 years, who became a focus for the media during the infamous incident, died in August 2023.
But what of the remaining five Moon men?
Who are they, and what are their stories?
Buzz Aldrin (Apollo 11)
NASA
Buzz Aldrin, right, along with his crewmates Neil Armstrong and Michael Collins, before their mission to the Moon
On 21 July 1969, former fighter pilot Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin left his lunar landing craft and became the second person to step on the surface of the Moon. Almost 20 minutes beforehand, his commander, Neil Armstrong, had been the first.
Aldrin’s first words were: “Beautiful view”.
“Isn’t that something?” asked Armstrong.”Magnificent sight out here.”
“Magnificent desolation,” replied Aldrin.
The fact that he was second never sat comfortably with him. His crewmate Michael Collins said Aldrin “resented not being first on the Moon more than he appreciated being second”.
But Aldrin was still proud of his achievement; many years later, when confronted by a man claiming Apollo 11 was an elaborate lie, the 72-year-old Aldrin punched him on the jaw.
And following Neil Armstrong’s death in 2012, Aldrin said: “I know I am joined by many millions of others from around the world in mourning the passing of a true American hero and the best pilot I ever knew.”
Despite struggles in later life, he never lost his thirst for adventure and joined expeditions to both the North and South Poles, the latter at the age of 86.
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While embracing his celebrity, he has remained an advocate for the space programme, especially the need to explore Mars.
“I don’t think we should just go there and come back – we did that with Apollo,” he says.
And his name has become known to new generations as the inspiration for Buzz Lightyear from the Toy Story series of films. In January 2023, at the age of 93, he married for a fourth time..
Charles Duke (Apollo 16)
There are only four people still alive who have walked on the Moon – Charlie Duke is one of them. He did it aged 36, making him the youngest person to set foot on the lunar surface.
In a later BBC interview, he spoke of a “spectacular terrain”.
“The beauty of it… the sharp contrast between the blackness of space and the horizon of the Moon… I’ll never forget it. It was so dramatic.”
But he had already played another significant role in Nasa’s exploration of the Moon. After Apollo 11 touched down in 1969, it was Duke – in mission control as the Capsule Communicator, or Capcom – who was waiting nervously on the other end of the line when Neil Armstrong said: “Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.”
NASA
Charlie Duke, along with Jim Lovell and Fred Haise in Mission Control, during the Apollo 11 mission
In his distinctive southern drawl, Duke replied: “Roger, Tranquility. We copy you on the ground, you’ve got a bunch of guys about to turn blue, we’re breathing again.”
“I really meant it, I was holding my breath the last minute or so,” he later told the BBC.
In 2022, Duke told the BBC he was excited about Nasa’s Artemis mission – but warned that it wouldn’t be easy for the new generation of astronauts.
“They’ve picked near the South Pole for the landing, because if there’s any ice on the Moon, it would be down in that region. So that’s gonna be difficult – because it’s really rough down there. But we’ll pull it off.”
Charlie Duke now lives outside San Antonio, Texas, with Dorothy, to whom he has been married for 60 years.
Fred Haise
NASA
Fred Haise and his crewmates seemed surprised by their celebrity after they returned to Earth.
Fred Haise was part of the crew of Apollo 13 that narrowly avoided disaster in 1970 after an on-board explosion caused the mission to be aborted when the craft was more than 200,000 miles (321,000km) from Earth.
The whole world watched nervously as Nasa attempted to return the damaged spacecraft and its crew safely. Once back, Haise and his crewmates James Lovell and Jack Swigert became celebrities, to their apparent surprise.
“I feel like maybe I missed something while I was up there,” he told talk show host Johnny Carson when the crew appeared on The Tonight Show.
Haise never made it to the Moon. Although scheduled to be commander of Apollo 19, that mission was cancelled because of budget cuts, as were all other flights after Apollo 17.
He later served as a test pilot on the prototype space shuttle, Enterprise.
Like many of his fellow Apollo alumni, after leaving Nasa, Haise continued to work in the aerospace industry until his retirement.
Harrison Schmitt (Apollo 17)
NASA
Harrison Schmitt was the first scientist to visit the Moon
Unlike most other astronauts of the time, Schmitt had not served as a pilot in the US forces.
A geologist and academic, he initially instructed Nasa astronauts on what to look for during their geological lunar field trips before becoming a scientist-astronaut himself in 1965.
Schmitt was part of the last crewed mission to the Moon, Apollo 17, and along with commander Eugene Cernan, one of the last two men to set foot on the lunar surface, in December 1972.
After leaving Nasa in 1975, he was elected to the US Senate from his home state of New Mexico, but only served one term. Since then he has worked as a consultant in various industries as well as continuing in academia.
He is also known for speaking out against the scientific consensus on climate change.
David Scott (Apollo 15)
NASA
David Scott was the seventh person to walk on the Moon
David Scott, the commander of Apollo 15, is one of just four men alive who have walked on the Moon – but he was also one of the first to drive on it too.
In 1971, Scott and crewmate James Irwin tested out the Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV), “Man’s First Wheels on the Moon” as it was called. Travelling at speeds up to 8 mph (12 km/h) the LRV allowed astronauts to travel large distances from the lunar lander much quicker than they could walk.
“On a first mission you never know whether it’s going to work,” he later recalled. “The greatest thrill was to get it out, turn it on, and it actually worked.”
After returning from the Moon, Scott worked in various management roles within Nasa, before joining the private sector.
He has also acted as consultant on several film and television projects, including Apollo 13 and the HBO miniseries From The Earth To The Moon.
What will the next generation of lunar adventurers accomplish?
COLORADO SPRINGS—The last of three L3Harris Technologies-developed solar electric propulsors destined for NASA’s internationally and commercially partnered, lunar-orbiting Gateway space station has been delivered for testing at the agency’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. Produced by L3Harris’…
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Between 1969 and 1972, six Apollo missions successfully landed on the Moon. Each crew faced danger, discovery, and the thrill of the unknown. These 12 astronauts didn’t just visit another world; they rewrote the story of human exploration.
While some stayed in orbit, others explored lunar valleys, collected samples, and even drove moon buggies across the surface. Each astronaut contributed to our understanding of the moon and helped pave the way for future missions.
In this quiz, you’ll be challenged to name all 12 lunar trailblazers.
Think you can list the men who made giant leaps for mankind?
Try it out below and see how well you score!
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The way octopuses move across the seafloor is like nothing else. Their arms twist and turn in all directions as they make their way across lumpy, bumpy ground. Understanding exactly how they make these movements could help engineers develop state-of-the-art robots that could easily navigate across uneven terrain – but it’s incredibly challenging to study.
Now, researchers from MBARI have made a breakthrough that could bring this closer to reality. Their scientists have successfully deployed a new imaging system – called EyeRIS (Remote Imaging System) – that could help reveal the secrets of exactly how deep-sea cephalopods move through the ocean.
“In MBARI’s Bioinspiration Lab, we look to nature to find inspiration for tackling fundamental engineering challenges,” says MBARI’s principal engineer Kakani Katija in a statement.
“Octopuses are fascinating subjects as they have no bones yet are able to move across complex underwater terrain with ease. Until now, it has been difficult to study their biomechanics in the field, but EyeRIS is a game changer for us.”
Innovative tech reveals new insights about deep-sea octopus. Credit: Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute
Armed with their new tech, they headed 3,000 metres underwater to the famous Octopus Garden off the coast of California – the largest known aggregation of octopuses on the planet, where some 20,000 pearl octopuses (Muusoctopus robustus) gather to mate and nest each year.
Here, they filmed the cephalopods going about their business. The unique imaging system captured the animals’ every movement in 3D and created a reconstruction showing exactly how the limbs move.
“EyeRIS allowed us to follow several individuals as they moved, completely unconstrained, in their natural environment,” says senior research specialist Crissy Huffard. “Our team was able to get 3D measurements of their arms in real-time as they crawled over the rough terrain of the deep seafloor.”
Developed by researchers in MBARI’s Bioinspiration Lab, the EyeRIS camera system (right) enables near real-time three-dimensional imaging and visualisation in a compact payload that can be deployed to depths of 4,000 metres (13,100 feet). Credit: Joost Daniels, 2021 MBARI
Thanks to the high-res cameras that could track many different angles at the same time, the team could see exactly how the arms moved, curved and strained as the octopus plodded along. Their findings are published in the journal Nature.
“EyeRIS data showed that pearl octopus use temporary muscular joints in their arms when crawling, with strain and bend concentrated above and below the joint. This allows them to have simple, but sophisticated, control of their arms,” said Huffard.
“The mechanisms of this simplified control could be valuable for designing octopus-inspired robots and other bioinspired technologies in the future.”
Pearl octopuses (Muusoctopus robustus) occur in large numbers at the Octopus Garden and exhibit a diverse range of behaviours, including brooding, crawling and swimming, for researchers to study. Credit: 2022 MBARI
For Katija, this new development hints at the many discoveries yet to be made about the deep sea – many of which could have useful applications for humans.
“There is still so much to learn about marine life,” she says. “EyeRIS will allow us to continue to study the movement and behaviour of octopuses and other deep-sea animals in their natural environment using non-invasive techniques. I’m excited to see how this growing body of research and new technology sparks future bioinspired engineering innovation.”
Image and video credit: Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) | Top image: MBARI’s innovative EyeRIS camera system collects near real-time three-dimensional visual data about the structure and biomechanics of marine life. Filming deep-sea pearl octopus (Muusoctopus robustus) with this system has provided new insight into octopus locomotion that can contribute to the design of bioinspired robots in the future. Credit: 2022 MBARI
More amazing wildlife stories from around the world
Mystery early human relatives reached Sulawesi over a million years ago, oldest evidence found on ‘hobbit’ island neighbor Archaeology News Online Magazine
Stone tool discovery could offer new clue in mystery of ancient ‘hobbit’ humans CNN
On an Indonesian island, traces of human presence over one million years old have been discovered Le Monde.fr
Mystery Archaic Hominins Lived in Sulawesi 1.04 Million Years Ago Sci.News
Oldest evidence of humans found on island near ‘Hobbit’ homeland | The study has been published in journal ‘Nature’ | Inshorts Inshorts
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Sailors For The Sea: Be the change you want to sea.
The Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment: Committed to protecting and improving the health of the global environment.
Contribute to Living on Earth and receive, as our gift to you, an archival print of one of Mark Seth Lender’s extraordinary wildlife photographs. Follow the link to see Mark’s current collection of photographs.
Buy a signed copy of Mark Seth Lender’s book Smeagull the Seagull & support Living on Earth