The Sky At A Glance

There is a Total Solar Eclipse on August 1; totality occurs in a narrow path beginning in Arctic Canada, and proceeding through northern Greenland, Siberia, and Mongolia, to finish in China.

Evening Planets (after sunset)

• Mercury, W
• Venus, W
• Mars, W
• Saturn, W
• Jupiter, S

Visible at Midnight

• Jupiter, SW
• Neptune, S
• Uranus, SE

Morning Planets (before sunrise)

• Uranus, SW

Comet C/2007 W1 (Boattini) has gotten as bright as magnitude 4.5 while at its brightest in July, but has now started to fade. It is visible in Aries in the hours before sunrise. The best time to look for it is early in August, when the comet is at its brightest and the Full Moon does not interfere.

The Perseid meteors peak on the morning of August 12, when you can expect up to 90 meteors per hour, but the activity should be high for several days on either side of the peak. The best viewing will be in the early morning hours, after the gibbous Moon has set and Earth’s orbital motion into the meteor stream results in brighter and more spectacular trails.