Monthly sky briefing
August 2023
In August 2023, Mercury was the brightest thing in the evening sky, while Jupiter led the morning. The moon was full twice (1 Aug and 31 Aug) — a "blue moon". The Perseids peaked around 12 Aug. 6 Starlink trains went up — a well-known source of "string of lights" reports in the days after.
Bright planets
- Jupitermorning sky · mag -2.5
- Saturnmorning sky · mag +0.4
- Mercuryevening sky · mag +0.5
- Marsevening sky · mag +1.8
Moon
- Full moon1 Aug
- Full moon31 Aug
- New moon16 Aug
- A second full moon — a “blue moon”.
Meteor showers
- Perseidspeak 12 Aug
Rocket launches
6 launches · 6 Starlink
- Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 6-87 Aug
- Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 6-208 Aug
- Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 6-911 Aug
- Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 6-1017 Aug
Reports this monthopen 2023 on the map ↗
876most reported: orb (213), light (102), cigar (45)
Everything above is computed from public data — planet and moon positions, the launch log and the report catalogue. It doesn’t explain any single report; it just shows how much ordinary sky was overhead. What can’t be pinned to a planet, a launch or the moon is the part worth a closer look.