APOD: 2026 August 1 – Buck Moon and Belt of Venus

On July 28th, photographers along the Croatian coast witnessed a rare celestial trifecta: the full Buck Moon rising over distant mountains, framed by Earth's shadow as a diffuse gray band across the twilight sky, and above it, the Belt of Venus—a pinkish arch of backscattered sunlight. NASA News reports that this display serves as a prelude to an even more dramatic event: the New Moon of August 12, which will cast its own shadow across Earth during a total solar eclipse.

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