This time of year is usually the moment to break out the lawn chairs for the annual spectacle of the Perseid meteor shower. It’s a popular favorite due to warm summer nights and the possibility of seeing up to 140 meteors an hour. Each year, Earth passes through the debris trail of Comet Swift-Tuttle, the source of the Perseids. Particles tiny as a grain of sand collide with Earth’s atmosphere and create fast-moving streaks of light flashing through the dark.

The peak of the Perseids is the night of August 11-12. However, with the Moon at its fullest only two days before, there will be a wash of moonlight over all but the most brilliant meteor streaks until just before dawn. Postsunset, the ringed planet, Saturn, on its way to being as bright as it will be all year, will be a lovely sight paired with the moon. Predawn, around 5 a.m., brings the most beautiful sight of the evening and the most gorgeous conjunction of the year. Dazzling in the east, gleaming Venus and brilliant Jupiter will blaze extremely close together. Nearby will be the bright stars Pollux and Castor in the constellation Gemini. Venus and Jupiter will put on a show together over the next week, and on August 20, they will form a radiant triangle with the crescent moon.