This is the Griffith Observatory Sky Report for the two-week period ending Wednesday, August 22, 2012. Here is what’s happening in the skies of Southern California:

As the sky grows dark, look to the southwest for a trio of bright objects grouped together in a pattern that changes slightly from night to night. The trio consists of the orange planet Mars, the golden planet Saturn, and the blue-white star Spica of Virgo the Maiden. Before the 13th, Mars is the rightmost of the objects, with Saturn above Spica on the left side. On then 13th and 14th, Mars is nearly in line with and between Saturn and Spica. It is clearly on the left side of them by the 15th. By that date, the trio set shortly after 10:00 p.m.

The waning moon reaches last quarter phase on Thursday night, August 9, and is new on the morning of Friday, August 17. It emerges into the evening sky in waxing crescent phase on Monday, August 19, and is below the equilateral triangle made by Saturn, Spica and Mars on Tuesday the 21.

The second brightest planet, Jupiter, is in Taurus the Bull, close to the orange star Aldebaran. Look for Jupiter in the east-northeast after it rises at about 1:30 a.m. At 2:50 a.m., the brightest planet, Venus, follows and appears below and to the left of Jupiter well into the dawn. A telescope will reveal the crescent phase of Venus, and the four brightest moons of Jupiter.

The Perseid meteor shower, the annual summertime favorite, will reach its peak during the late night and early morning hours of Saturday the 11th and Sunday the 12th. The shower is observable, streaming from the northeast, starting at 11:00 p.m. It gets stronger until dawn begins to extinguish the show at about 4:45 a.m. When it rises at 1:35 a.m., the waning crescent moon will be more of an annoyance than a hindrance to watching the shower. If you watch from a wilderness location, far from the effects of urban light pollution, you may expect to see an average of better than one meteor per minute in the early morning hours. Remember to bring warm clothes, blankets or a sleeping bag, and a reclining chair or deck chair, lying with your head slightly elevated and facing east or northeast.

The moon will be between Jupiter and Venus during the meteor shower in the morning sky on Sunday, the 12th. On Monday the 13th, the moon will occult (pass directly in front of) Venus in the western sky that afternoon. From Los Angeles, the moon occults the half-lit Venus starting at 1:38 p.m., P.D.T. The illuminated limb of the moon will take about a minute to cover the visible portion of the planet. Venus will begin to emerge from the center of the unlit limb of the moon at 2:47 p.m., and will take about 30 seconds to re-appear. Binoculars or a telescope will greatly aid in observing this event.

An Atlas 5 rocket, delayed from an August 2 launch date, is now tentatively scheduled to launch a classified reconnaissance satellite and 11 small satellites from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, no earlier than Tuesday morning (shortly after midnight), August 14. Throughout much of southern California, the rocket should be visible in the western sky, arcing southward, parallel to the coast. Confirm the launch time and monitor live coverage of the launch’s progress on this link: http://www.spaceflightnow.com/atlas/av033/status.html. If the weather is clear, step outside to look for the rocket after confirming that the launch has occurred. Don’t forget binoculars!

Free views of the sun during the day and of the moon, planets, and other celestial objects at night, are available to the public in clear weather six days a week (Tuesday-Sunday) through Griffith Observatory’s telescopes before 9:30 p.m. Check our website for our schedule. The next public star party of the Los Angeles Astronomical Society and the Sidewalk Astronomers, and the Planetary Society is scheduled for Saturday, August 25.

From Griffith Observatory, I’m Anthony Cook, and I can be reached at griffithobserver@gmail.com.