We like the August sky because there are usually lots of beautiful things to see. We have had amazing solar eclipses, like the Great American Eclipse in 2017, and we will have two brilliant ones next year and the year after. The best meteor shower of the year, too, is in August: the Perseids. But today we are telling you what you are not going to see this month: the Black Moon of August 23.
The Moon goes through phases, with the whole progression lasting around a month. When it is completely illuminated, it’s a full Moon, while its opposite is the new Moon. In the former case, the Moon is on the side of the Earth away from the Sun. In the latter case, it is closer to the Sun, so it’s in the sky during the day and invisible to us.
The Moon goes around the Earth 12.37 times every year, so some years will have 12 new Moons (or 12 full Moons) and some years will have 13. In a more accurate approximation, there are 235 new Moons within 19 years, so seven years in every 19 will have an extra new Moon.
The extra full Moon has been historically called a Blue Moon. Given its relative rarity, we get the expression “once in a Blue Moon”. The concept of the Black Moon originated in astrological circles centuries ago to refer to an actual real Earth satellite that was hiding in orbit around the Earth. The term has been more recently co-opted to mark a similar concept to that of the Blue Moon, but for the new Moon.
A Blue Moon can be defined as a monthly one (the second full Moon in a calendar month) or a seasonal one (the third full Moon in a season). Similarly, you can have a monthly Black Moon, happening roughly every 29 months, and a seasonal one, happening every 33 months. The last Black Moon we had was only 8 months ago, and it was a monthly one.
The one this month will be a seasonal one. There won’t be another Black Moon, monthly or seasonal, until 2027 – another seasonal one, following the new Moon that will cause the incredible eclipse happening on August 2, 2027.
If we can’t see it and there is not even an eclipse this time, what is the point of knowing there’s a Black Moon? Well, the Moon is beautiful, but its brightness is also pretty annoying when you want to see the night sky – especially when you want to see stuff like meteor showers.
Source Link: There's Only One Black Moon In 2025 And It's Happening This Month
