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Birthday · August 1, 2026

Buck Moon and Belt of Venus

August 1, 2026

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Selected image source ↗ APOD published August 1, 2026. Credit: Branko Nadj. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.

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Buck Moon and Belt of Venus

Original APOD · August 1, 2026 ↗

Read the original APOD for the astronomer’s explanation and full image credits. Its text is preserved in the archive as published.

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The Buck Moon is a traditional name for the full moon of July. In this colorful Adriatic sea and skyscape captured on July 28 from Krk Island along the coast of Croatia, a full Buck Moon is just rising over distant mountains. Since a full moon rises as the Sun sets, Earth's shadow also rises in the twilight scene, a diffuse gray band extending above the mountainous southeastern horizon. Above Earth's shadow band is the pinkish antitwilight arch. That subtly tinted band of backscattered sunlight is more widely known as the Belt of Venus. But as it shares the eastern horizon with the atmospheric shadow of Earth and Belt of Venus, this full Buck Moon seems to set the stage for the New Moon to come. The New Moon of August 12 will cast its shadow on planet Earth in a much anticipated total solar eclipse.

Image credit: Branko Nadj

Explore August 1 in other years · 32 APOD entries, 1995–2026

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