2 Venus 1.5° SSW of Spica at 1h UT (evening sky). Mags. −4.5 and 1.0. 3 Moon near the Pleiades at 13h UT (morning sky). 4 Last Quarter Moon at 7:51 UT. 5 Moon near M35 Cluster at 20h UT (morning sky).

Orange County skywatchers have a special reason to look east on the evening of Thursday, August 27. A deep partial lunar eclipse will unfold across the night sky, with nearly the entire Moon entering Earth’s darkest shadow. At maximum eclipse, approximately 96% of the Moon’s disk will be inside Earth’s umbra, leaving only a thin, brightly illuminated portion of the Moon outside the shadow.

2 Mercury at westernmost elongation at 8h UT (19.5° from Sun, morning sky). Mag. 0.3. 3 Moon near Saturn at 23h UT (morning sky). Mag. 0.6. 6 Last Quarter Moon at 2:22 UT. 6 Mercury 7.6° South of Pollux at 6h UT (20° from Sun, morning sky)

1 Mercury at northernmost declination (25.6°) at 19h UT. 8 Venus 4.7° S of Pollux at 0h UT (36° from Sun, evening sky). Mags. −4.0 and 1.2. 8 Last Quarter Moon at 10:02 UT. 9 Venus 1.6° NNE of Jupiter at 21h UT (37° from Sun, evening sky).