Starry Night This Week

Each week most PBS stations air "Jack Horkheimer: Star Gazer", the world's first and only weekly TV series on naked-eye astronomy. The Starry Night images on this page illustrate the show for the week of Monday August 5, 2002. You can view the complete show script, or watch a RealPlayer video of the show.

Venus Meets The Moon And The Night Of St. Lawrence's Tears

The Moon pairs up with Venus on August 11th and with Spica, the brightest star of Virgo, the following day on August 12th.

The Perseids are the best annual meteor shower with an expected peak of up to 60 or more meteors per hour. The best time to observe the Perseids is after midnight on the night of August 12th right up to twilight. This year the thin crescent Moon sets early in the night leaving behind dark skies so you can see the faintest of meteors. The Perseids seem to originate or radiate from the constellation of Perseus. This spot is marked with a red circle on the sky map.

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Click here for an archive of the past shows.