August 2027: an eclipse pair and five Sundays
Dispatch, August 2027: the month opened on Sunday 1 August, and its strangest working day arrived with it. On Monday 2 August a total solar eclipse crossed southern Spain, North Africa and the Middle East. The longest darkness fell over Egypt, and Britain watched from desks, on streams, in the gaps between meetings. A second new moon closes the month on Tuesday 31 August, with 22 business days in between.
How the month is built
August 2027 runs from Sunday 1 August to Tuesday 31 August, a generous stretch of summer. The grid spans ISO weeks 30 to 35, six numbered weeks. No other month of the year's second half straddles six. You get 22 business days and nine weekend days, which is respectable for a month this distracted.
Five Sundays fall on 1, 8, 15, 22 and 29 August. Five Mondays follow on 2, 9, 16, 23 and 30 August. Five Tuesdays complete the set on 3, 10, 17, 24 and 31 August. Every other weekday manages four appearances, and nobody complains.
Two eclipses and a black moon
The eclipse pair is the month's signature. The new moon of Monday 2 August crossed the face of the Sun on the first working day. Two weeks later, the full moon of Tuesday 17 August slides through Earth's penumbra. The companion eclipse barely registers, which is the Moon doing an encore as politely as possible.
Friday 13 August is the year's only Friday the 13th, for readers who keep score. The month then ends under a second new moon, on Tuesday 31 August, a black moon by name. The Moon ends the month as it began, which is thorough. A black moon is simply the second new moon inside a single month, bookkeeping rather than drama.
August keeps moving
Cycling opened the month. The Tour de France Femmes ran an 18 km team time trial through central London on Sunday 1 August. The Edinburgh Festival Fringe marks its eightieth edition, running from Friday 6 August to Monday 30 August. It spans all five weekends, and a film for the animated crowd opens that first Friday.
On Thursday 12 August NASA's Lucy spacecraft flies past the asteroid Eurybates, the first visit to a Jupiter Trojan. In Cologne, gamescom opens on Monday 23 August and runs to Sunday 29 August. The US Open tennis draw begins on the fifth Monday, 30 August, and its fortnight spills deep into September. Somewhere in there, August expects you to have a break.
Formula 1 stays quiet until Monza in early September, so the teams take a break alongside everyone else. The month's quiet middle is a feature, so use it.
The Moon opens the month, closes it and still leaves the middle to everyone else. Trust the grid, stock the printer paper and let August get on with it.