JUPITER AND VENUS CONJUNCTION: Jupiter and Venus are two of the brightest objects in the night sky. When you know where to look, it is very easy to spot them. In a few days, they will be even easier to find, because they will be VERY close to one another over several days. This is known as a planetary conjunction.
While the planets will look very close to each other, they are, of course, still very far apart from one another in space (by hundreds of millions of miles).
You can look for them all of August, as they will be shining brightly in the east before sunrise all month long. However, they will appear the closest to each other on Monday and Tuesday morning, at just a degree apart and about 20 to 30 degrees above the horizon, so they will be in the lower half of the sky. The best time to look is about 45 minutes to an hour before sunrise. Look to the east, and you should be able to see the conjunction!
According to NASA, their rendezvous happens against a backdrop of bright stars, including Orion, Taurus, Gemini, and Sirius. A slim crescent Moon joins the pair of planets after they separate again, on the mornings of Aug. 19 and 20.
PERSEID METEOR SHOWER PEAKS: The Perseid Meteor shower also peaks this week! The Perseid Meteor shower is the most popular show of the year, known for its frequent shooting stars and, of course, it peaks in the summer each year.
While it peaks Tuesday night into Wednesday morning, unfortunately, this year the Moon is nearly full on the peak night, and its glare will wash out all but the brightest meteors. While that's not so great for this meteor shower, the good news is that another favorite annual meteor shower, the Geminids, is poised for Moon-free viewing in December!
CONDITIONS FOR VIEWING: The next two nights/early morning look very mild with temperatures in the upper 60s to low 70s tonight and into Monday. It will be even warmer on Tuesday morning with temperatures in the 70s for almost all of NEO! The sky also looks mostly clear to partly cloudy. Clouds should increase on Tuesday as storm chances increase Tuesday night and into Wednesday, potentially impacting the peak of the meteor shower.
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