For stargazers, this is the best time of year. The weather is ideal for late night stargazing. Plus, we are entering the season of watching shooting stars. There are two meteor showers at this time of year. Together they provide us with a show that lasts weeks. The Persdeid Meteor Shower is on the evening of August 11 into the 12; but meteors can be seen before and after.

Next week we've got the Delta Aquarids, which peaks next Monday morning well befor dawn. However, the meteors can be hitting our atmosphere any time from now into August. The Delta Aquarids, at there best offers 25 meteors an hour, but don't expect that many. Just go outside and look. If you see a meteor crossing the sky every few minutes, consider that good news. The constellation Aquarius, where the meteors appear to originate will be rising in the eastern sky around 10 p.m.

Each summer at this time, the Earth enters the remnants of Comet  96P/Machholz. The comet is long gone, but the debris field of its orbit around the sun remains intact, thus we have the Delta Aquarid Meteor Shower. The comet is not expected to return to circle close to the sun until May of 2028.