Section updated: Aug 3rd, 2026.
For the first session to Friday August 7th
Below is shown what our sky would be like by 9:15 pm on the 7th. The main bright objects of our Galaxy are rising up to meet us then. The multitude of its interesting objects are beginning to become apparent to us as the green circles you see in the image below, though they are challenged by the light pollution from the surrounding cities. In the western horizon, the only planet to notice is bright Venus next to Virgo’s outstretched left arm and her star Zavijava as her left hand.
In the west, we see the noticeably bright planet Venus. On the 9th, it will be 0.727734 au away from us and basically be equidistant from us as it is from the Sun. As we are 1 au away from the Sun, then you should be able to envision it at the right angle of a 45°-45°-90° triangle. Hence, when reaching its greatest elongation (angular distance) from the Sun, it will look like a 1st quarter Moon in the sky. I once showed a small boy the planet through a telescope in a similar phase years ago and he declared “It’s a moon!”
Know that this would be an impossible view according to ancient Ptolemy, who wrote the Almagest, had insisted that it orbited on an epicycle around a fixed midpoint between the Earth and the Sun. But Galileo argued that if Venus did so, then all we would ever see of it would be a thin lit section, like a crescent phase, as we would forever look at mostly its night side. So, in order for us to see Venus lit up by over half its surface like we will those nights, both Galileo and Copernicus argued that it must be coming toward us from the far side of the solar system as it orbits the Sun. So, viewing Venus early in the evening will give you a chance to personally eyewitness proof that the Earth is not at the center of the solar system!
If the sky is cooperative and we’re ambitious, we can try for the variety of galaxies later on, such as M84, 86, 87, 89, 58, 60. There will also be globular clusters, such as M53, NGC5634 in Virgo, NGC4590 in Hydra, NGC 5897 in Libra, M5 in Serpens Caput. And still later on, M13 & M92 in Hercules. M57, the Ring Nebula, in Lyra. And the apparent, two colored stars (blue and gold, like the Ukrainian flag) called Alberio, the swan’s beak, in Cygnus.
One of the best showers of the year occurs with no interference from the Moon, because it will have been a New Moon and was too busy blocking the view of the Sun for people in Europe for their total solar eclipse. Unfortunately for us, we will miss seeing that eclipse here in South Florida. But the shower will be available for people to see. Head out to a location far from city lights, with a large clear overhead view of the sky and generally look eastwards for the debris meteor particles from Comet Swift-Tuttle (109P). You may see about 100 fast, bright colorful meteors at their peak that will be traveling 59 km/s anywhere across the sky from their radiant point in the constellation Perseus.
By the 18th, the first image’s view will appear a little different in that Venus will appear almost 5° south of Cybele, Virgo’s left arm pit star and be less than 0.656 au away from us. While our 6 day old waxing crescent Moon will be about 6.33° south of Libra’s star Zubenelgenubi (which is a bouncy, fun name to say!)
If the sky is cooperative and we’re ambitious, we can try for the variety of galaxies later on, such as M84, 86, 87, 89, 58, 60. There will also be globular clusters, such as M53, NGC5634 in Virgo, NGC4590 in Hydra, NGC 5897 in Libra, M5 in Serpens Caput. And still later on, M13 & M92 in Hercules. M57, the Ring Nebula, in Lyra. And the apparent, two colored stars (blue and gold, like the Ukrainian flag) called Alberio, the swan’s beak, in Cygnus as more of the multitude of objects of the Milky Way Galaxy swings into our view!
The Moon will reach its deepest point inside the Earth’s shadow just after midnight on the 28th. For us here in south Florida, expect to see the penumbral first contact point to occur at Aug. 27th, 9:26:19 pm, and be completely inside the Earth’s penumbral shadow by 10:33:02 pm. Then, its first contact with our umbral shadow will be 10:36 pm. The darkest point for us will be 12:20 am on the 28th. Its Last Umbral Contact will be at: 1:50:48 am, as its Last Penumbral Contact: 2:58:49 am.
I’ve made a short video of the event here. Note how the Moon approaches the outer penumbral and inner umbral shadows of the Earth (the two red circles) and how as the shadow crosses the Moon, you can see its part of its round shape when it is going into the shadow and when it leaves the shadow. But don’t take my computer-generated video as fact! No, it is much better for you to see it happen for yourself. No one is going to fake what your own eyes can show you. Just reference the video to understand what is expected to be seen and when. Then also note that from beginning to end, the eclipse will take over 5.5 hours to occur! In that time, the Earth will have rotated over 82°. Yet each part shows that the shadow it casts out in that direction is round! This is an observation that Pythagoras made 25 centuries ago and recognized as proof of the spherical shape of the Earth. The only object that always casts a round shadow, no matter which direction the surround light travels out to, is a sphere. You have the opportunity to observe this for yourself and then the satisfaction of understanding how we know the shape of our home planet.
If you prefer more information, head to NASA’s Eclipse Predictions are by Fred Espenak, NASA/GSFC Emeritus (“Mr. Eclipse!”). He had plotted out 5000 years of eclipse events! Just like this one: https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/LEplot/LEplot2001/LE2026Aug28P.pdf
