{"id":89441,"date":"2025-08-23T07:16:08","date_gmt":"2025-08-23T07:16:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/89441\/"},"modified":"2025-08-23T07:16:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-23T07:16:08","slug":"rare-black-moon-coming-but-theres-a-catch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/89441\/","title":{"rendered":"Rare Black Moon coming, but there\u2019s a catch"},"content":{"rendered":"

A \u2018black moon\u2019 is set to take over Australian skies. Not that you\u2019ll be able to see it.<\/p>\n

On Saturday August 23, the rare phenomenon \u2013 which only comes once every two and a half years \u2013 will occur when the moon orbits between the Earth and the sun.<\/p>\n

However, there won\u2019t be much for eager stargazers to catch a glimpse of, as the phenomenon actually causes the moon to disappear to the naked eye.<\/p>\n

\"SYDNEY<\/p>\n

A \u2018black moon\u2019 will hit Aussie skies on August 23, but the phenomenon means stargazer\u2019s wont actually be able to see it. Picture: NewsWire \/ Dylan Coker.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, leaving its illuminated side facing away from us and therefore will not be visible to us,\u201d the senior host at the Sydney Observatory, Richard Stevenson said.<\/p>\n

This is because the side of the moon facing the sun becomes illuminated, while also rising and setting with the sun, according to NASA.<\/p>\n

But there is an upside.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, this absence of moonlight creates darker skies, making it an ideal time for stargazing and observing celestial objects,\u201d Mr Stevenson said.<\/p>\n

\"SUPER<\/p>\n

With the glare of the Moon gone, it provides the chance for stars and celestial objects to be more visible: NewsWire \/ Gary Ramage.<\/p>\n

Because the moonlight glare is no longer the main light in the sky, fainter objects are easier to spot.<\/p>\n

The term \u2018black moon\u2019 isn\u2019t an astronomical one, but is another name for a rare form of a new moon, where the entire Earth-facing side of the moon is covered in darkness.<\/p>\n

A black moon can occur in two variations: a third new moon in an astronomical season that typically features four moons, or a second new moon in the same calendar month.<\/p>\n

The August 23 black moon will be a season one, the third new moon since the current astronomical season began with the June solstice over June 20 and 21.<\/p>\n

The season will conclude with the September equinox on September 22.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A \u2018black moon\u2019 is set to take over Australian skies. Not that you\u2019ll be able to see it.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":89442,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[64,63,66596,66597,66594,66595,128,285],"class_list":{"0":"post-89441","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-space","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-black-moon","11":"tag-new-moon","12":"tag-rare-phenomenon","13":"tag-richard-stevenson","14":"tag-science","15":"tag-space"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89441","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=89441"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89441\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89442"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}