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By NASA
Skywatching Skywatching Home What’s Up Meteor Showers Eclipses Daily Moon Guide More Tips & Guides Skywatching FAQ Night Sky Network Venus-Jupiter Conjunction and Meteor Mojo
Jupiter and Venus shine brightly in the mornings as they appear to graze each other in the sky on the 11th and 12th. The Perseids are washed out by the Moon.
Skywatching Highlights
All Month – Planet Visibility:
Mercury: Pops up above the horizon during the second half of August. Appears very low, below 10 degrees altitude. Venus: Shines very brightly in the east each morning before sunrise, about 20 to 30 degrees above the horizon. Mars: Can be observed low in the west during the hour after sunset, appearing about as bright as the brightest stars in the Big Dipper. Jupiter: Appears in the east each morning, together with Venus, but much less bright. Saturn: Observable late night to dawn. Rises around 10:30 p.m. early in the month, and around 8:30 p.m. by the end of the month. Find it high in the south as sunrise approaches. Skywatching Highlights:
August 11 & 12 – Venus-Jupiter Conjunction – The two brightest planets have a close meetup over several days, appearing closest over two days on the 11th and 12th, at just a degree apart.
August 19 & 20 – Moon with Jupiter & Venus – A slim lunar crescent joins Jupiter and Venus — still relatively close in the sky after their conjunction. They appear in the east in the several hours preceding sunrise.
August 12th-13th – Perseids Peak – The celebrated annual meteor shower will be hampered by an 84%-full Moon on the peak night. A few bright meteors may still be seen in the pre-dawn hours, but viewing conditions are not ideal this year.
All month – The Dumbbell Nebula (M27) – One of the easiest planetary nebulas to observe, M27 appears within the Summer Triangle star pattern, high overhead in the first half of the night.
Transcript
What’s Up for August? Jupiter and Venus have a morning meetup, we check out this year’s Perseid meteor shower, and peek into the future of our own Sun.
Mars is the lone planet in the early evening sky this month, visible low in the west for about an hour after the sky starts to darken. It’s now only about 60% as bright as it appeared back in May.
Saturn is rising by about 10 pm, and you’ll see it showing up a bit earlier each evening as the month goes on. You’ll find it in the east after dark with the constellations Cassiopeia and Andromeda. The Ringed Planet makes its way over to the western part of the sky by dawn, where early risers will find it on August mornings.
The real highlight of August is the close approach of Jupiter and Venus. They shine brightly in the east before sunrise throughout the month. The pair begin the month farther apart, but quickly approach each other in the sky. They appear at their closest on the 11th and 12th — only about a degree apart. Their rendezvous happens against a backdrop of bright stars including Orion, Taurus, Gemini, and Sirius. A slim crescent Moon joins the pair of planets after they separate again, on the mornings of the 19th and 20th.
Sky chart showing the eastern sky before sunrise on August 11th, with Venus and Jupiter only a degree apart. NASA/JPL-Caltech One of the best annual meteor showers, the Perseids, peaks overnight on August 12th and into the 13th. Unfortunately, this year the Moon is nearly full on the peak night, and its glare will wash out all but the brightest meteors. While that’s not so great for Perseid watchers, the good news is that another favorite annual meteor shower, the Geminids, is poised for Moon-free viewing in December.
August is a great time to see one of the easiest-to-observe nebulas in the sky.
The Dumbbell Nebula, also known as M27, is high overhead on August nights. It’s a type of nebula called a “planetary nebula.”
A nebula is a giant cloud of gas and dust in space, and planetary nebulas are produced by stars like our Sun when they become old and nuclear fusion ceases inside them. They blow off their outer layers, leaving behind a small, hot remnant called a white dwarf. The white dwarf produces lots of bright ultraviolet light that illuminates the nebula from the inside, as the expanding shell of gas absorbs the UV light and re-radiates it as visible light.
The Dumbbell Nebula, nicknamed for its dumbbell-like shape, appears as a small, faint patch of light about a quarter of the width of the full moon in binoculars or a small telescope. It lies within the Summer Triangle, a pattern of stars that’s easy to find overhead in the August sky. You’ll find the nebula about a third of the way between its bright stars Altair and Deneb.
Sky chart showing the Summer Triangle asterism, with the location of the Dumbbell Nebula (M27) indicated. NASA/JPL-Caltech Here’s hoping you get a chance to observe this glimpse into the future that awaits our Sun about 5 billion years from now. It’s part of a cycle that seeds the galaxy with the ingredients for new generations of stars and planets — perhaps even some not too different from our own.
Here are the phases of the Moon for August.
The phases of the Moon for August 2025. NASA/JPL-Caltech You can stay up to date on all of NASA’s missions exploring the solar system and beyond at science.nasa.gov. I’m Chelsea Gohd from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and that’s What’s Up for this month.
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By NASA
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the company’s Dragon spacecraft is launched on NASA’s SpaceX Crew-11 mission to the International Space Station with NASA astronauts Zena Cardman, Mike Fincke, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Kimiya Yui, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov onboard, Friday, Aug. 1, 2025, from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA’s SpaceX Crew-11 mission is the eleventh crew rotation mission of the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket to the International Space Station as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program. Cardman, Fincke, Yui, Platonov launched at 11:43 a.m. EDT from Launch Complex 39A at the NASA’s Kennedy Space Center to begin a six month mission aboard the orbital outpost. Credit: NASA/Aubrey Gemignani Four crew members of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-11 mission launched at 11:43 a.m. EDT Friday from Launch Complex 39A at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida for a science expedition aboard the International Space Station.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket propelled the Dragon spacecraft into orbit carrying NASA astronauts Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Kimiya Yui, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov. The spacecraft will dock autonomously to the space-facing port of the station’s Harmony module at approximately 3 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 2.
“Thanks to the bold leadership of President Donald J. Trump, NASA is back! The agency’s SpaceX Crew-11 mission to the space station is the first step toward our permanent presence on the Moon. NASA, in conjunction with great American companies, continues the mission with Artemis in 2026. This Moon mission will ensure America wins the space race – critical to national security – and leads in the emerging, exciting and highly profitable private sector commercial space business,” said acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy. “The Commercial Crew Program and Artemis missions prove what American ingenuity, and cutting-edge American manufacturing can achieve. We’re going to the Moon…to stay! After that, we go to Mars! Welcome to the Golden Age of exploration!”
During Dragon’s flight, SpaceX will monitor a series of automatic spacecraft maneuvers from its mission control center in Hawthorne, California. NASA will monitor space station operations throughout the flight from the Mission Control Center at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.
NASA’s live coverage resumes at 1 a.m., Aug. 2, on NASA+ with rendezvous, docking, and hatch opening. After docking, the crew will change out of their spacesuits and prepare cargo for offload before opening the hatch between Dragon and the space station’s Harmony module around 4:45 a.m. Once the new crew is aboard the orbital outpost, NASA will provide coverage of the welcome ceremony beginning at approximately 5:45 a.m.
Learn how to watch NASA content through a variety of platforms, including social media.
The number of crew aboard the space station will increase to 11 for a short time as Crew-11 joins NASA astronauts Anne McClain, Nichole Ayers, and Jonny Kim, JAXA astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonauts Kirill Peskov, Sergey Ryzhikov, and Alexey Zubritsky.
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 will depart the space station after the arrival of Crew-11 and a handover period. Ahead of Crew-10’s return, mission teams will review weather conditions at the splashdown sites off the coast of California prior to departure from station.
During their mission, Crew-11 will conduct scientific research to prepare for human exploration beyond low Earth orbit and benefit humanity on Earth. Participating crew members will simulate lunar landings, test strategies to safeguard vision, and advance other human spaceflight studies led by NASA’s Human Research Program. The crew also will study plant cell division and microgravity’s effects on bacteria-killing viruses, as well as perform experiments to produce a higher volume of human stem cells and generate on-demand nutrients.
The mission is part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, which provides reliable access to space, maximizing the use of the station for research and development and supporting future missions beyond low Earth orbit by partnering with private companies to transport astronauts to and from the space station.
Learn more about the agency’s Commercial Crew Program at:
https://www.nasa.gov/commercialcrew
-end-
Josh Finch / Claire O’Shea
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Steven Siceloff
Kennedy Space Center, Florida
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Sandra Jones
Johnson Space Center, Houston
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Last Updated Aug 01, 2025 LocationNASA Headquarters Related Terms
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By NASA
2 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
NASA/Lori Losey
The best way to solve a mystery is by gathering evidence and building a case. That’s exactly what NASA researchers are doing with a series of research flights aimed at advancing a sensor for supersonic parachutes. The clues they find could help make these parachutes more reliable and safer for delivering scientific instruments and payloads to Mars.
These investigative research flights are led by the EPIC (Enhancing Parachutes by Instrumenting the Canopy) team at NASA’s Armstrong Fight Research Center in Edwards, California. During a June flight test, a quadrotor aircraft, or drone, air-launched a capsule that deployed a parachute equipped with a sensor. The flexible, strain-measuring sensor attached to the parachute did not interfere with the canopy material, just as the EPIC team had predicted. The sensors also provided data, a bonus for planning upcoming tests.
“Reviewing the research flights will help inform our next steps,” said Matt Kearns, project manager for EPIC at NASA Armstrong. “We are speaking with potential partners to come up with a framework to obtain the data that they are interested in pursuing. Our team members are developing methods for temperature testing the flexible sensors, data analysis, and looking into instrumentation for future tests.”
The flight tests were a first step toward filling gaps in computer models to improve supersonic parachutes. This work could also open the door to future partnerships, including with the aerospace and auto racing industries.
NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) funds the EPIC work through its Entry Systems Modeling project at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley. The capsule and parachute system were developed by NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. NASA Armstrong interns worked with Langley to build and integrate a similar system for testing at NASA Armstrong. An earlier phase of the work focused on finding commercially available flexible strain sensors and developing a bonding method as part of an STMD Early Career Initiative project.
NASA researchers Paul Bean, center, and Mark Hagiwara, right, attach the capsule with parachute system to the Enhancing Parachutes by Instrumenting the Canopy test experiment on June 4, 2025, at NASA’s Armstong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California. NASA researchers are developing technology to make supersonic parachutes safer and more reliable for delivering science instruments and payloads to Mars.NASA/Christopher LC Clark Derek Abramson, left, and Justin Link, right, attach an Alta X drone to the Enhancing Parachutes by Instrumenting the Canopy test experiment on June 4, 2025, at NASA’s Armstong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California. Abramson is NASA chief engineer at the center’s Dale Reed Subscale Flight Research Laboratory, where Link also works as a pilot for small uncrewed aircraft systems. NASA researchers are developing technology to make supersonic parachutes safer and more reliable for delivering science instruments and payloads to Mars.NASA/Christopher LC Clark An Alta X drone is positioned at altitude for an air launch of the Enhancing Parachutes by Instrumenting the Canopy test experiment on June 4, 2025, at NASA’s Armstong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California. NASA researchers are developing technology to make supersonic parachutes safer and more reliable for delivering science instruments and payloads to Mars.NASA/Christopher LC Clark The parachute of the Enhancing Parachutes by Instrumenting the Canopy test experiment deploys following an air launch from an Alta X drone on June 4, 2025, at NASA’s Armstong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California. NASA researchers are developing technology to make supersonic parachutes safer and more reliable for delivering science instruments and payloads to Mars.NASA/Christopher LC Clark The Enhancing Parachutes by Instrumenting the Canopy project team examines a capsule and parachute following an air launch from an Alta X drone on June 4, 2025, at NASA’s Armstong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California. NASA researchers are developing technology to make supersonic parachutes safer and more reliable for delivering science instruments and payloads to Mars.NASA/Christopher LC Clark Share
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Last Updated Jul 29, 2025 EditorDede DiniusContactJay Levinejay.levine-1@nasa.gov Related Terms
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By NASA
Explore Webb Webb News Latest News Latest Images Webb’s Blog Awards X (offsite – login reqd) Instagram (offsite – login reqd) Facebook (offsite- login reqd) Youtube (offsite) Overview About Who is James Webb? Fact Sheet Impacts+Benefits FAQ Science Overview and Goals Early Universe Galaxies Over Time Star Lifecycle Other Worlds Observatory Overview Launch Deployment Orbit Mirrors Sunshield Instrument: NIRCam Instrument: MIRI Instrument: NIRSpec Instrument: FGS/NIRISS Optical Telescope Element Backplane Spacecraft Bus Instrument Module Multimedia About Webb Images Images Videos What is Webb Observing? 3d Webb in 3d Solar System Podcasts Webb Image Sonifications Webb’s First Images Team International Team People Of Webb More For the Media For Scientists For Educators For Fun/Learning 5 Min Read NASA’s Webb Traces Details of Complex Planetary Nebula
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s view of planetary nebula NGC 6072 in the near-infrared shows a complex scene of multiple outflows expanding out at different angles from a dying star at the center of the scene. In this image, the red areas represent cool molecular gas, for example, molecular hydrogen. Full image below. Credits:
NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI Since their discovery in the late 1700s, astronomers have learned that planetary nebulae, or the expanding shell of glowing gas expelled by a low-intermediate mass star late in its life, can come in all shapes and sizes. Most planetary nebula present as circular, elliptical, or bi-polar, but some stray from the norm, as seen in new high-resolution images of planetary nebulae by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope.
Webb’s newest look at planetary nebula NGC 6072 in the near- and mid-infrared shows what may appear as a very messy scene resembling splattered paint. However, the unusual, asymmetrical appearance hints at more complicated mechanisms underway, as the star central to the scene approaches the very final stages of its life and expels shells of material, losing up to 80 percent of its mass. Astronomers are using Webb to study planetary nebulae to learn more about the full life cycle of stars and how they impact their surrounding environments.
Image A: NGC 6072 (NIRCam Image)
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s view of planetary nebula NGC 6072 in the near-infrared shows a complex scene of multiple outflows expanding out at different angles from a dying star at the center of the scene. In this image, the red areas represent cool molecular gas, for example, molecular hydrogen. NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI First, taking a look at the image from Webb’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera), it’s readily apparent that this nebula is multi-polar. This means there are several different elliptical outflows jetting out either way from the center, one from 11 o’clock to 5 o’clock, another from 1 o’clock to 7 o’clock, and possibly a third from 12 o’clock to 6 o’clock. The outflows may compress material as they go, resulting in a disk seen perpendicular to it.
Astronomers say this is evidence that there are likely at least two stars at the center of this scene. Specifically, a companion star is interacting with an aging star that had already begun to shed some of its outer layers of gas and dust.
The central region of the planetary nebula glows from the hot stellar core, seen as a light blue hue in near-infrared light. The dark orange material, which is made up of gas and dust, follows pockets or open areas that appear dark blue. This clumpiness could be created when dense molecular clouds formed while being shielded from hot radiation from the central star. There could also be a time element at play. Over thousands of years, inner fast winds could be ploughing through the halo cast off from the main star when it first started to lose mass.
Image B: NGC 6072 (MIRI Image)
The mid-infrared view of planetary nebula NGC 6072 from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope show expanding circular shells around the outflows from the dying central star. In this image, the blue represents cool molecular gas seen in red in the image from Webb’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) due to color mapping. NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI The longer wavelengths captured by Webb’s MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument) are highlighting dust, revealing the star researchers suspect could be central to this scene. It appears as a small pinkish-whitish dot in this image.
Webb’s look in the mid-infrared wavelengths also reveals concentric rings expanding from the central region, the most obvious circling just past the edges of the lobes.
This may be additional evidence of a secondary star at the center of the scene hidden from our view. The secondary star, as it circles repeatedly around the original star, could have carved out rings of material in a bullseye pattern as the main star was expelling mass during an earlier stage of its life.
The rings may also hint at some kind of pulsation that resulted in gas or dust being expelled uniformly in all directions separated by say, thousands of years.
The red areas in NIRCam and blue areas in MIRI both trace cool molecular gas (likely molecular hydrogen) while central regions trace hot ionized gas.
As the star at the center of a planetary nebula cools and fades, the nebula will gradually dissipate into the interstellar medium — contributing enriched material that helps form new stars and planetary systems, now containing those heavier elements.
Webb’s imaging of NGC 6072 opens the door to studying how the planetary nebulae with more complex shapes contribute to this process.
The James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s premier space science observatory. Webb is solving mysteries in our solar system, looking beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probing the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it. Webb is an international program led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency).
To learn more about Webb, visit:
https://science.nasa.gov/webb
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Laura Betz – laura.e.betz@nasa.gov
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
Hannah Braun – hbraun@stsci.edu
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md.
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Last Updated Jul 30, 2025 Editor Marty McCoy Contact Laura Betz laura.e.betz@nasa.gov Related Terms
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By NASA
3 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
An aircraft body modeled after an air taxi with weighted test dummies inside is shown after a drop test at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. The test was completed June 26 at Langley’s Landing and Impact Research Facility. The aircraft was dropped from a tall steel structure, known as a gantry, after being hoisted about 35 feet in the air by cables. NASA researchers are investigating aircraft materials that best absorb impact forces in a crash.NASA/Mark Knopp As the aviation industry works to develop new air taxis and other electric aircraft made from innovative, lightweight materials, there’s a growing need to understand how those materials behave under impact. That’s why NASA is investigating potential air taxi materials and designs that could best protect passengers in the event of a crash.
On June 26 at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, researchers dropped a full-scale aircraft body modeled after an air taxi from a tall steel structure, known as a gantry.
The NASA researchers behind this test and a previous one in late 2022 investigated materials that best absorb impact forces, generating data that will enable manufacturers to design safer advanced air mobility aircraft.
“By showcasing elements of a crash alongside how added energy-absorbing technology could help make the aircraft more robust, these tests will help the development of safety regulations for advanced air mobility aircraft, leading to safer designs,” said Justin Littell, test lead, based at Langley.
An aircraft body modeled after an air taxi with weighted test dummies inside is hoisted about 35 feet in the air by cables at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. The aircraft was dropped from a tall steel structure, known as a gantry, on June 26 at Langley’s Landing and Impact Research Facility. NASA researchers are investigating aircraft materials that best absorb impact forces in a crash.NASA/Mark Knopp During the June test, the aircraft was hoisted about 35 feet into the air and then released. It swung forward before crashing to the ground. The impact conditions were like the prior test in 2022, but with the addition of a 10-degree yaw, or twist, to the aircraft’s path. The yaw replicated a certification condition required by Federal Aviation Administration regulations for these kinds of aircraft.
After the drop, researchers began to evaluate how the structure and batteries withstood the impact. As expected, the material failures closely matched predictions from computer simulations, which were updated using data from the 2022 tests.
An aircraft body modeled after an air taxi with weighted test dummies inside is being prepared for a drop test by researchers at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. The test was completed June 26 at Langley’s Landing and Impact Research Facility. The aircraft was dropped from a tall steel structure, known as a gantry, after being hoisted about 35 feet in the air by cables. NASA researchers are investigating aircraft materials that best absorb impact forces in a crash.NASA/Mark Knopp An aircraft body modeled after an air taxi with weighted test dummies inside is being prepared for a drop test by researchers at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. The test was completed June 26 at Langley’s Landing and Impact Research Facility. The aircraft was dropped from a tall steel structure, known as a gantry, after being hoisted about 35 feet in the air by cables. NASA researchers are investigating aircraft materials that best absorb impact forces in a crash.
The aircraft included energy absorbing subfloors, similar to crumple zones in cars, which appeared to crush as intended to help protect the seats inside. The battery experiment involved adding mass to simulate underfloor battery components of air taxis to collect acceleration levels. Once analyzed, the team will share the data and insights with the public to enhance further research and development in this area.
Lessons learned from these tests will help the advanced air mobility industry evaluate the crashworthiness of aircraft designs before flying over communities.
The work is managed by the Revolutionary Vertical Lift Technology project under NASA’s Advanced Air Vehicles Program in support of NASA’s Advanced Air Mobility mission, which seeks to deliver data to guide the industry’s development of electric air taxis and drones.
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Last Updated Jul 28, 2025 EditorDede DiniusContactTeresa Whitingteresa.whiting@nasa.govLocationArmstrong Flight Research Center Related Terms
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