Apogee fell at 08, Aug. 23 -- The moon stopped receding from Earth yesterday morning and has been closing ever since. That reversal is the quiet event of the week, and it is why the full moon arriving on Friday will be one of the smaller ones of 2026. The moon phase today, August 23, 2026, is a Waxing Gibbous, around 80 percent illuminated and roughly eleven days into the cycle that opened with the total solar eclipse of August 12.

20 UTC on August 22, at 404,644 km. By midnight tonight the moon has already pulled back inside 403,200 km, and it keeps closing right through Friday's full moon without getting anywhere near perigee first. Five days is not long enough to make up that deficit, which is the whole reason the Sturgeon Moon will l...