The New Moon on August 8 has an illumination of 0%. This is the percentage of the Moon illuminated by the Sun. This means the skies will extremely dark, making it the best opportunity for stargazing.

SpaceBar brings the space community together for a virtual get together with opportunities for networking and engaging discussions. This event will be held fortnightly on THURSDAYS at 7PM (BST), via Zoom, past events have had 40 to 100 participants, with discussion continuing long into the night

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch a Dragon cargo resupply mission (CRS-23) to the International Space Station. It will launch from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The gas giant Jupiter will be directly opposite the sun in our sky around the same time that it makes its closest approach to Earth of the year. The planet will shine at its biggest and brightest and will be visible all night long.

Our Moon will swing about 3 degrees to the south of Saturn in the evening sky. From London, the pair will be visible between 20:37 and 03:03 GMT.

The full moon of August, known as the Full Sturgeon Moon, occurs at 12:02 pm GMT. This will also be a so-called “Blue Moon” because it is the third full moon in a season that has four full moons.

Arianespace will use a Soyuz rocket to launch 34 satellites into orbit for the OneWeb internet constellation. The mission will lift off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Mercury will be bright and well placed for planet and stargazers alike!

The new moon arrives at 00:52 Sept. 7 GMT