{"id":81931,"date":"2025-08-20T08:02:06","date_gmt":"2025-08-20T08:02:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/81931\/"},"modified":"2025-08-20T08:02:06","modified_gmt":"2025-08-20T08:02:06","slug":"august-has-a-black-moon-see-why-the-rare-phenomenon-exists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/81931\/","title":{"rendered":"August has a black moon; See why the rare phenomenon exists"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"play\"<\/p>\n

NASA ordered to develop nuclear power plant for moon by 2030s<\/p>\n

NASA is now focused on building a nuclear power plant on the moon for future lunar surface missions and to bolster national security.<\/p>\n

A rare black moon is set to occur this week, though night sky observers will not be able to see it.<\/p>\n

The astral phenomenon is set to leave a moon-sized dark spot in the heavenly panorama on the night of Saturday, Aug. 23.<\/p>\n

Friday’s black moon is considered a “seasonal” version of the event as it will be the third new moon in a season that has four \u2013 according to Space.com<\/a>. Normally a season has three new moons but since the lunar cycle does not exactly align a fourth one occurs about every 33 months.<\/p>\n

There is nothing to see from the moon itself during a black moon as with all new moons the sunlit side faces away from Earth. However, that may provide a black canvas for space watchers to find stars and planets \u2013 weather permitting.<\/p>\n

Here’s what to know about the black moon.<\/p>\n

Why do black moons occur?<\/p>\n

A\u00a0black moon<\/a>\u00a0can happen under three astronomical patterns, according to Space.com and the Old Farmer’s Almanac.<\/p>\n

Two new moons occur in one month, the second being a monthly black moon.In a season with four new moons, the third new moon is a seasonal black moon.When there are no new moons in January, February and March, each has two new moons, making the second of each a black moon.When was the last black moon?<\/p>\n

The last seasonal Black Moon occurred on May 19, 2023, according to Space.com.<\/p>\n

When is the next black moon?<\/p>\n

The next black moon will occur on Aug. 31, 2027, but that will be a “monthly” black moon where two new moons occur in one calendar month, according to Space.com.<\/p>\n

What was the last notable moon phenomenon?<\/p>\n

August’s full moon<\/a> was known as the\u00a0Sturgeon Moon<\/a>, named after the fish.<\/p>\n

It peaked in the early morning hours of Aug. 9.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NASA ordered to develop nuclear power plant for moon by 2030s NASA is now focused on building a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":81932,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[617,12592,62010,305,64,63,62008,505,13981,3016,30289,12593,314,331,4935,62009,38877,312,330,324,307,326,323,335,13970,13976,128,285,155,6618,62011,313,441,28131,30290],"class_list":{"0":"post-81931","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-space","8":"tag-and","9":"tag-astrology","10":"tag-astrology-and-horoscopes","11":"tag-astronomy","12":"tag-au","13":"tag-australia","14":"tag-calendars","15":"tag-central","16":"tag-central-region","17":"tag-east","18":"tag-east-region","19":"tag-horoscopes","20":"tag-modular","21":"tag-modular-story","22":"tag-moon","23":"tag-moon-natural-satellite","24":"tag-natural","25":"tag-network","26":"tag-network-trending","27":"tag-neutral","28":"tag-outer","29":"tag-outer-space","30":"tag-overall","31":"tag-overall-neutral","32":"tag-region","33":"tag-satellite","34":"tag-science","35":"tag-space","36":"tag-story","37":"tag-time","38":"tag-time-u0026-calendars","39":"tag-trending","40":"tag-u0026","41":"tag-west","42":"tag-west-region"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81931","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81931"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81931\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81932"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81931"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81931"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81931"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}