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!