Today:
Although now slightly past its peak, the Perseid Meteor Shower will continue tonight, as the Earth passes through the debris of Comet Swift-Tuttle, with thousands of tiny pieces of dust and rock that burn up in our atmosphere 40 to 70 miles above us. Considerable competition can again be expected from the Moon, this time 81 percent illuminated, once it rises at 9:54 PM.

Thursday:
Low in the failing southwestern twilight between 8:45 and 9:15 PM, you will find the bright, bluish-white star Spica nearing the end of its viewing for the year. Although Spica ranks just outside the top-ten brightest stars, at 250 light years away, actually outshines the Sun by 15 thousand times!

Friday:
The Perseid Meteor Shower continues this evening, again further from its peak, but the moon is dimming, now down to 59 percent illuminated. Meteors are almost always favored after midnight, because our spinning Earth turns into the direction we are orbiting. This increases the number of particles we run into along our orbit.