A rare Black Moon rises with the sun on Aug. 23: Here's what to expect
August 19, 2025

On Aug. 23, the night sky will play host to an unusual lunar event known as a Black Moon.
While you won't actually see anything unusual (in fact, you won't see the moon at all), this event is still exciting because of its rarity.

At 2:06 a.m. EDT (06:06 GMT) — which is 11:06 p.m. PDT on Friday (Aug. 22) — the moon will officially pass through its new moon phase.
At that moment, our natural satellite will be positioned in the constellation Leo, sitting just 1 degree north of the sun in the sky.

So what's happening? A Black Moon isn't an official astronomical term, but it's used to describe unusual timings of new moon phases.
This week's event falls under the "seasonal" definition: the third new moon in a season that contains four new moons.
A new moon is the phase when the moon's sunlit side faces away from Earth, making it invisible in our sky as it rises and sets with the sun.

Normally, each season has three new moons, but the lunar cycle doesn't line up perfectly with our calendar.
Every so often, an "extra" new moon sneaks in and the third in that sequence is dubbed a Black Moon. The last seasonal Black Moon happened on May 19, 2023.

Summer 2025 in the Northern Hemisphere started with a new moon on June 25, followed by July 23, Aug. 3 and Sept. 21.