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This is the Griffith Observatory Sky Report through August 15th, 2018. Here’s what’s happening in the skies of southern California.

The Perseid meteor shower will reach its peak during the night of Sunday, August 12th through the early morning hours of Monday the 13th. Up to 70 meteors per hour may be expected after midnight, if you watch the shower from a dark wilderness location, far from urban light pollution. Besides warm clothing, the only special equipment that is recommended for enjoying a meteor shower is a reclining chair or lounge, so that you can look up and comfortably gaze high into the sky. Perseid meteors can appear anywhere in the sky, but they all seem to streak from the direction of the constellation Perseus the Hero. Perseus is above the north-northeast horizon early in the night, and it stands high in the northeast before dawn. The meteors are produced by small particles that range in size from sand to gravel, called meteoroids, that light up when they hit our atmosphere with a velocity of around 37 miles per second. The meteoroids travel in orbits that follow that of the object from which they were shed, in this case the comet Swift-Tuttle. The comet was last seen in 1993 and it is expected to return in 2126.

The moon is waning crescent before the 11th, when it is new. The new moon produces a partial solar eclipse that is visible from northeastern Canada and Greenland, to northern Europe and much of Asia. Its maximum occurs on the Arctic coast of western Siberia, where nearly 74-percent of the diameter of the sun is covered by the moon.  None of this eclipse is visible from the United States.

The waxing crescent moon appears briefly in the evening sky on the 12th. By the 15th, it sets at 10:50 p.m.

Four bright planets are positioned well for viewing in the early evening. Venus, the brightest planet, blazes in the west after sunset. The moon is in the vicinity of Venus on the 13th and 14th.

The bright gleam of Jupiter, in the constellation Libra the Scales, is to be found to the upper left of Venus, and it is high in the south-southwest sky early in the evening.

Orange planet Mars is in Capricornus the Sea Goat and it is currently the second-brightest planet. It is noticeable at its position low above the southeast horizon as the sky darkens. Between Mars and Jupiter, the planet Saturn is in Sagittarius the Archer, where it equals the brilliance of a bright star.

Free views of the Sun during the day and of the moon and planets at night are available to the public in clear weather through Griffith Observatory’s telescopes from Tuesday through Sunday, before 9:30 p.m. Check our website for the schedule. The next free public star party on the grounds of Griffith Observatory, hosted by the Los Angeles Astronomical Society, the Sidewalk Astronomers, and the Planetary Society, will take place on Saturday, August 18.

Follow the Sky Report on Twitter for updates of astronomy and space-related events.

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