Looking Up with Tommie & Lorenza: A preview to the August sky

ALBANY, Ga. (WALB) - August will likely be an active month for space events.

These events will be discussed in the new monthly News Now exclusive segment “Looking Up with Tommie and Lorenza.” This segment will feature one or more astronomical events that are relevant to South Georgia.

The topics talked about in this month’s segment discuss:

• The Perseid meteor shower happening around Aug. 12-13
• There will be two full moons, one Blue Moon, and two supermoons in August 2023. The first supermoon of 2023 was on July 3 and the last one will be on Sept. 29.
• The 400 earth-sized planets wandering the Milky Way.

The Perseid Meteor Shower has been ongoing since July 14 and will last through Aug. 24. This event presents a meteor shower that produces nearly 100 meteors/hour on a good night. The peak of this year’s meteor shower will occur Aug. 12-13. The illumination of the moon will be near 10% as the moon enters the waning crescent phase. You want to look northeast in the sky to view the meteor shower. This occurs due to the earth passing through an area of debris-bits and ice in space.

Fun Facts: The meteors travel as fast as 133,200 miles/hour and temperatures are 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit as they fly through space.

August 2023 also provides us with a chance to experience three lunar occurrences. There will be two full moons: Aug. 1 and Aug. 30th. The first full moon of the month is known as the Sturgeon Moon.

The August full moon’s name derives from Native Americans who noticed that a pre-historic looking fish in the Great Lakes region was caught the most at this time.

The second moon of the month is a blue moon. No, it is not actually blue, but it gets it name from being such a rare occurrence to have 2 full moons in one month. This only occurs about every 2.5 years.

Lastly, these moons will both be super moons as the moon will be at its perigee, closest to the earth when it reaches these two dates. This will make it seem bigger and shine a little brighter.

The first super moon of 2023 was on July 3 and the last one will be on Sept. 29.

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