With two supermoons and three meteor showers, there's so much to see this month.

Here is everything you can see in the night sky in August 2023.

The moon

Phases for August are as follows:

  • First quarter - July 25
  • Sturgeon Moon - August 1
  • Last quarter - August 8
  • New moon - August 16
  • First quarter - August 24
  • Sturgeon Moon - August 31

Also known as the 'green corn moon' and 'grain moon', August's full moons are linked with the end of the summer and the start of the harvest. They are named after the fish readily caught during this part of the summer.

Both full moons will be supermoons, which are a combination of a lunar perigee (when the moon is close to Earth) and a full moon. Supermoons appear up to 14pc bigger and 30pc brighter than normal.

Planets

Saturn will be visible in the east all month long and can easily be seen with the naked eye. 

Neptune will be to the west of Saturn, and Uranus can be seen to the west of Jupiter in the later parts of the month.

Mercury, Venus and Mars can be seen at sunset towards the west horizon, but only for the first week of August. 

Meteor showers

Perseid meteor shower

Active between July 17 and August 24, this shower will peak on August 12 and 13.

This shower is associated with the 109P/Swift-Tuttle comet.

There will be up to 100 meteors per hour which are characterised by fast meteors with trains.

Delta Aquariids and Alpha Capricornids

Active between July 3 and August 23, these showers peaked on July 30 with up to 30 meteors per hour.

They are characterised by having slow, bright and yellow fireballs.