The Perseid meteor shower & a six-planet parade — one night, zero moonlight.
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Earth is plowing through the dust trail of comet Swift-Tuttle. Each streak is a sand-grain hitting the sky at 37 miles per second, radiating from the constellation Perseus in the northeast.
9:00–11:00 PM — Earthgrazer Hour. The predicted peak! The radiant is still low, so meteors are fewer but spectacular — long, slow streaks that skim the whole sky.
Midnight–5:30 AM — Prime Time. Rates climb all night as Perseus rises. Expect a meteor every minute or two from a dark spot.
How to watch: lie back, face northeast-ish, take in maximum sky. No telescope — wide eyeballs are the correct instrument. Give your eyes 20–30 phone-free minutes to adapt (that's what Night-Vision Mode up top is for).
Thursday before dawn, six planets share the sky at once. Look 30–60 minutes before sunrise — roughly 5:55–6:25 AM — with a clear view toward the east.
| Planet | Where | Spotting it |
|---|---|---|
| Saturn | High, southern sky | Easy — naked eye |
| Mars | Eastern sky | Easy — naked eye |
| Mercury | Low in the east | Needs a clear horizon |
| Jupiter | Very low, east | Bright but horizon-hugging |
| Uranus | East, near Mars | Binoculars |
| Neptune | South, near Saturn | Telescope only |
Venus is sitting this one out — it's hiding behind the Sun. Rude.
At 6:24 AM Thursday, mid-parade, the International Space Station glides across the sky — rising in the southwest, peaking 30° up in the southeast at 6:27, exiting northeast, bright as the brightest star. A steady, silent, moving light. Wave — there are people on it.
Simplified view of the northeast sky, late evening. Find the bright “W” first — it points down toward the radiant. But don't stare at one spot: meteors appear all over the sky.
Tap to use your phone's compass. (Backup method: face where the Sun went down, then turn right until it's behind your left shoulder.)
Live from the National Weather Service. Tuesday's outlook: mostly clear, low ~72°F, 0% rain — bring water, it stays warm.
Best: drive 15–25 minutes out of town, any direction away from the I-10 glow. With no moon, even modest Hill Country darkness is superb. Put Kerrville's lights at your back.
Great: the backyard genuinely works this year — you'll just miss the faintest ones.
Wherever you go: load this page before you leave — signal gets thin where the stars get thick.