The August 2026 night sky will present a host of events for your viewing pleasure.

🔭Month-Long Event

Early risers can catch the planet parade throughout the month, although a telescope or other device will be needed to view all the visible planets. This occurs in the pre-dawn hours.

📆Events by Date

August 2 – An opportunity to catch the smallest planet in our solar system as it enters its greatest western elongation. Due to its size and closeness to the sun, Mercury is often difficult to spot. 

August 7 –  The Lunar Occulation of Pleiades. This one requires staying up late to witness, as it will occur after midnight for much of the U.S.

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Unplug – Reconnect to the Night Sky

The Night Sky 2026 Edition

BONUS

Origin of  Full Moon Names (from Partnership with Native Americans)

The “Blue Moon” is not on the standard list of moon names due to its rarity.

July 2026 

Click to watch on YouTube.

     (Use the date links to see detailed descriptions.)        

July 14: – Can you spot the Milky Way?

The night of the new moon offers a great opportunity to spot the Milky Way.

July 17: Crescent moon and Venus

July 18:  Southern Delta Aquarids begin

June 2026 

Overview of events from NASA Jet Propoulsion Laboratory YouTube Channel

There’s plenty to see in the June 2026 night sky, including planetary conjunctions and alignments to the Strawberry moon, summer soltice, and the peak of the Bootid meteor shower.

From National Geographic 

From Space.com

From EarthSky

From Astronomy Magazine

May 2026

May 1 – Full “Flower” moon. This one is a trickster because the peak of the full moon will occur during daylight hours at 1:23 PM EDT. Children can witness the early stages as they leave for school.

May 4 – Moon reaches apogee (farthest from earth’s center).

May 5-6 – Eta Aquarids meteor shower reaches its peak.

May 13-15 – Crescent moon near Saturn and Mars.

May 16 – New moon.

May 31 – Another full moon – this one’s a Blue Moon.

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Why a Scavenger Hunt?

When you’re looking for creative, inexpensive (free in this case) ways to engage your child, you can design a scavenger hunt from the comfort of your home.

Whether you live in house or an apartment doesn’t matter, you and your child can have fun looking at old thing in new ways.

It’s especially useful during inclement weather when you’re stuck inside.

Examples

This activity is inspired by a 2008 challenge at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the book Everyday Mysteries by Jerome Wexler. It involves not looking at an object as a whole but focusing on small details.

Here’s a sample from the Met challenge. For access to more examples and downloadable pdfs click here.

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