Don’t Miss This Weekend’s Cosmic Show: Perseid Meteors, Planet Parade & Aurora Hints (Aug 17–18, 2025)
The Perseid meteor shower peaked on August 12-13, 2025, and NASA’s Bill Cooke says under moonlit skies observers may see about 10-20 meteors per hour (versus 40-50 per hour under dark skies). By August 17-18, the Moon is a waning crescent, allowing ideal conditions to yield roughly 15-20 Perseids per hour before dawn. The minor kappa Cygnids are active around August 14 at about 1 meteor per hour. Venus and Jupiter form a bright dawn pair in the eastern sky on August 17-18, after having been only about 1° apart in a close conjunction on August 11-12. On August 19-20,