The full moon in August is called a Sturgeon Moon; again this moon is named after events happening in the northern hemisphere from the Old Farmers Almanac.
 
The Native Americans knew that the giant sturgeon (fish) of the Great Lakes and Lake Champlain were most readily caught during this full Moon and so named this month’s full moon after that event.
 
I’m sure we here in Australia must have some event where August full Moon can be celebrated,
must look into that :-D
 
Image was taken with a Seestar S50 telescope capturing a RAW movie file and stacking images in the unit, then processing in PS. had a bit of fun with the image ;-)
 
Lunar Eclipse Moon
A few hours before taking this image many people witnessed a nearly full total lunar eclipse at 96%, it was all over by the time we saw the full moon rising here in Australia.

​Lots of beautiful photo are on the Spaceweather.com website at:
https://spaceweathergallery2.com/index.php?title=eclipse

The only sunspot that’s quite active on the surface of the Sun is AR 4513; it produced a M7- class solar flare on the 25th August so by today a CME may arrive for people to enjoy in those Arctic and Antarctic latitudes :-D
 
Image was taken with a Seestar S50 telescope with the attached solar filter capturing a movie, which was stacked in the unit and processed in PS.

Roman is set to launch August 30, 2026 at 07:26 am EDT (AEST (Australia) – 9:20 PM) on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
https://science.nasa.gov/mission/roman-space-telescope/

Education information on the Nancy Grace Roman mission at:
https://assets.science.nasa.gov/content/dam/science/missions/rst/education/Final%20Roman%20Press%20Kit-508compliant.pdf

Time information taken from Zendar Universe website at:
https://zendaruniverse.com/updates/roman-space-telescope-launch-time-aug-30-2026-ist-live-watch-guide/
  
Last Updated: July 28, 2026 | By Dr. Jean-Luc Moreau. NASA has officially confirmed the roman space telescope launch time for Sunday, August 30, 2026, at 7:20 a.m. EDT. For viewers in India, the roman telescope launch time is 4:50 p.m. Liftoff will occur aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
 
This highly anticipated launch comes roughly eight months ahead of NASA's previous "no later than May 2027" commitment. The observatory arrived at the Kennedy Space Center on June 21, 2026, aboard NASA's Pegasus barge from Goddard via Baltimore. Fueling was successfully completed on July 25, 2026, with 290 gallons of hydrazine loaded at the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility.
 
Roman Space Telescope Launch Time in IST and Global Time Zones
 
Coordination is critical for a mission of this magnitude. The nancy grace roman space telescope launch date is set for a precise orbital window, allowing the spacecraft to efficiently begin its journey to the Sun-Earth Lagrange point 2.
 
Global launch times include:
EDT (Florida) – 7:20 AM
UTC – 11:20 AM
IST (India) – 4:50 PM
BST (UK) – 12:20 PM
CEST (Europe) – 1:20 PM
PDT (US West) – 4:20 AM
GST (Dubai) – 3:20 PM
SGT (Singapore) – 7:20 PM
JST (Japan) – 8:20 PM
AEST (Australia) – 9:20 PM

There was a lovely close conjunction of Venus with the three day old waxing crescent Moon in the western sky on evening of the 16th August 2026.
 
While taking my images I watched as a plane approached and hoped it would go across the lunar surface, but it just passed by flashing its white and red lights.
​
I wonder if anybody was looking out there plane window and saw the beautiful sky view :-D
 
Images were taken with a Canon 70D camera and Tamron 28-400mm lens, using ISO 200 and exposure time of 4 seconds.

 Comet 220P/McNaught in constellation of Cetus (The Whale)
~ 12th August 2026 ~

​
I had to wait until well after midnight to capture the comet in the constellation of Cetus, that’s when it was rising low in the eastern sky. Comet 220P is a very strange shape it reminds me a bit like Comet Hale-Bopp but smaller, its also developing a long tail.
 
220P/McNaught was discovered by Australian astronomer, Robert McNaught in 2004, Theskylive.com website states that the comet is currently at 181,113,968 kilometres from Earth!
 
Images were taken with a Seestar S50 telescope and processed lightly in PS, I’ve included an image of the live view through the telescope, and I’m so pleased I was able to not only find the comet but capture it as well amazingly the sky was clear! Wow!

There are some funny names for the full Moon each month, this month it’s called a Buck Moon again so named for the northern hemisphere and its folklore.
 
We here in Australia in the southern hemisphere as far as I know do not name our full Moons but it would be fun to give them some names…right now it’s very cold so this full moon could be called the Cold or Snow Moon or Flower Moon because all the eucalyptus trees are in flower and the parrots are having a feast of nectar :-D
 
July: Buck Moon
Male deer, which shed their antlers every year, begin to regrow them in July, hence the Native American name for July's full moon. Some refer to this moon as the thunder moon, due to the summer storms in this month. Other names include the hay moon, after the July hay harvest.
 
Information taken from Royal Museums Greenwich website at:
https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/space-astronomy/what-are-names-full-moons-throughout-year
 
Full Moon image taken with a Seestar S50 telescope, the wide field image was taken with a Canon 70D camera and Tamron 28-400mm lens; exposure time was 1/60th second ISO200.

Send Your Name with the Roman Space Telescope by 12th July 2026!
~ Fly with Nancy Grace Roman Telescope ~
 
Submit your name and email for a boarding pass for the Roman mission.
https://my.nasa.gov/specialevents/s/send-your-name-with-nancy-roman
 
NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Telescope website at:
https://science.nasa.gov/mission/roman-space-telescope/
 
Explore the universe with us! The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is NASA’s next space observatory, launching to a point in space ONE MILLION MILES away.

Submitted names will be uploaded to an SD card attached to the observatory. Stay tuned for the latest mission updates, including information about launch, at nasa.gov/roman

What is the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope?

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is NASA’s next flagship astrophysics observatory. The mission will pair a large field of view with crisp infrared vision to scan vast, deep swaths of sky. Roman’s panoramic images, each at least 100 times larger than the Hubble Space Telescope’s, will help astronomers answer major questions in the areas of dark energy, dark matter, exoplanets, and much more.

Roman will reveal the cosmic big picture using two instruments: the Wide Field Instrument and the Coronagraph Instrument technology demonstration. Roman is set to launch on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Who is Dr. Roman?
Roman is named after Dr. Nancy Grace Roman (1925-2018), NASA’s first chief astronomer, who paved the way for space telescopes focused on the broader universe. Considered the “mother” of the Hubble Space Telescope, Dr. Roman tirelessly advocated for space-based platforms that would allow scientists to study the broader universe from above Earth’s hazy atmosphere. Despite facing adversity, she persisted in finding new ways to explore the universe, including advocating for the development of a space-based telescope. Dr. Roman’s zealous leadership made Hubble, and all of the other space telescopes that followed, a reality.

Both of these two sunspots are extremely large and active and are producing solar flares; streams of plasma are arriving at the Earth from the eruption on the 1st July. Check in with Spaceweather.com to see all the images from the event at:
 
https://spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=03&month=07&year=2026
 
Images taken with Seestar S50 telescope with attached solar filter, RAW movie file captured and stacked within the unit and processed in PS.


Solar Dynamics Observatory
​(SDO) website at:
https://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov

Oh My! What a stunning sight to see in the eastern sky early this morning when I looked outside the window and started to see the sky turn this incredible deep vibrant pink colour, it was made even more beautiful by the pattern of the altocumulus clouds reflected in the water.
 
I only just had time to grab my iPhone as I knew from experience that something as beautiful as this only last a few minutes as the Sun begins to rise!
 
I also took a small movie where you can hear the birds calling; it was just so serene and beautiful, what a wonderful way to start a new day :-)

When I looked up I saw this interesting feature in the sky where some high Cirrus cloud broke away and showed like wispy tails being dragged down most probably by high winds…they are sometimes referred to as mares tails too.
 
Looking at the information on the clouds sheets below, I think I may have captured a subtype of Cirrus called either Cirrus Uncinus or perhaps Cirrus Floccus?
 
You never know what your going to see in the daytime sky so keep looking up and have your camera ready especially if there is cloud about.
 
To find out more about the clouds please go to this excellent website at (NOAA) National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
 
https://www.noaa.gov/jetstream/clouds/ten-basic-clouds
 
For a more in-depth dive into cloud formation here is another excellent website at
What’s this cloud?
 
https://www.whatsthiscloud.com/cloud-types/cirrus?srsltid=AfmBOopmr3RPZMI1KShh8r-NFxNK75XtT1t4zIueSfHVQGRtutn18JaD
 
And of course Wikipedia at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cirrus_cloud
 
My images were taken with my Canon Gx7 camera on manual focus, I always have my camera in my handbag for moments like these :-D