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 s

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