Their radiant lies in the Cygnus region, beautifully placed in Northern Hemisphere summer skies.
The bright Moon makes conditions poor this week, but if you happen to see an unusually bright meteor moving across the evening sky, do not automatically assume it is a late Perseid.
☄️ Aurigids Begin
Another shower quietly enters the stage at the very end of this week.
The Aurigid meteor shower becomes active around August 29, ahead of its peak around September 1.
This is a relatively minor shower with modest rates, but it occasionally produces unexpected bursts of activity, which makes it one of those showers serious meteor observers keep an eye on even when everyone else has moved on from meteor season.
Unfortunately, the bright waning Moon will interfere considerably this year.
Still, it belongs on the calendar.
Rare does not mean irrelevant.
🌌 Deep-Sky Viewing
I am not going to pretend this is a spectacular deep-sky week.
It isn’t.
The nearly Full Moon will flood the sky with light and wash out many faint objects.
But bright targets remain available.
Northern Hemisphere
Try:
⭐ Albireo, the beautiful coloured double star in Cygnus
⭐ Vega
⭐ Deneb
⭐ Altair
⭐ The Summer Triangle
⭐ M13, the Great Globular Cluster in Hercules
⭐ Bright open star clusters
⭐ The Moon itself, which frankly deserves the telescope this week
Southern Hemisphere
The Milky Way remains beautifully positioned during the evening, although moonlight will reduce contrast considerably.
Try observing before the Moon rises where local timing allows, or simply accept that this is lunar week and save the faint nebula hunting for September.
Sometimes the Moon wins.
🔭 WHAT YOU ACTUALLY NEED FOR THE ECLIPSE
One of the nicest things about a lunar eclipse is how ridiculously uncomplicated it is.
You do not need eclipse glasses.
You do not need a solar filter.
You do not need a telescope.
You do not even need binoculars.
Your eyes are enough.
But if you have binoculars, bring them.
Binoculars reveal the boundary of Earth’s shadow beautifully and can make subtle copper or reddish colouring much easier to appreciate.
A small telescope can reveal lunar craters disappearing progressively into Earth’s shadow, which is fascinating because you can literally watch the shadow line move across familiar lunar terrain.
For photography, even a modern smartphone mounted steadily can capture the eclipse, although a camera with a telephoto lens will obviously produce far more lunar detail.
The most important equipment is considerably less glamorous:
A clear horizon.
Especially in Iceland and western Europe, where the Moon becomes low as the eclipse progresses.