August 2027: Sunday Start, Friday the 13th, Black Moon
Dispatch, the night of Tuesday, August 17: the full moon slides through Earth's penumbra. It is a faint companion to the solar eclipse of August 2. Our correspondent squinted, and mostly saw an ordinary moon; that is the honest penumbral report. August 2027 is the year's only month that begins on a Sunday. That is exactly why it owns the year's only Friday the 13th. It runs 31 days, ends on Tuesday the 31st and bookends two new moons.
Sunday start, black moon finish
A 31-day month that opens on a Sunday always lands the 13th on a Friday. August 13 is 2027's single Friday the 13th. The month spans weeks 30 to 35, with 22 business days and nine weekend days. Five Sundays: August 1, 8, 15, 22 and 29. Five Mondays: the 2nd, 9th, 16th, 23rd and 30th. Five Tuesdays too, before Wednesdays through Saturdays thin to four each.
The Moon opens the month hidden and closes it the same way. It is new on Monday, August 2, and new again on Tuesday, August 31. A second new moon inside one calendar month goes by the name “black moon.” Between the two came first quarter on Monday the 9th, then the full moon on Tuesday the 17th. Last quarter is due Wednesday the 25th.
The shadow and the machine
Monday, August 2 brought the total solar eclipse. It crossed southern Spain, North Africa and the Middle East, with the longest totality over Egypt. It landed on a working day, so most first-time watchers caught it as a stream on a second monitor. Rania, two desks from ours, watched the Cairo totality with the sound off. Cruises and desert camps along the path went a year ago. Southern Spain sold out as the easy alternative. The late plan was a stream and a calendar square.
Two quieter headlines, both already filed. NASA's Lucy spacecraft flew past the Jupiter Trojan asteroid Eurybates on Thursday, August 12. It was the first encounter with a Trojan ever, its small moon Queta in the frame. The Bluey Movie opened on Friday, August 6. The Edinburgh Festival Fringe, 80 this year, runs through Monday, August 30.
The back half belongs to gamescom in Cologne, August 23 to 29, with public days from the 25th. The US Open main draw begins on the fifth Monday, August 30. It runs to finals weekend, September 11 and 12. Formula 1 stays quiet until Monza. Households rotate their streaming subscriptions around the tennis, then renew in September. For planners the arithmetic is simple: 22 business days, five Sundays and one tennis fortnight that spills into next month.
August began and ended with the Moon off duty, and in between it staged the year's best shadow. A fair trade.