Here are some fun astronomical events you and your family can enjoy in the month of August. All you need is an inexpensive telescope or binoculars for most of these events, but some of them are viewable with the naked eye.

August 12-13: Perseids Meteor Shower. Meteor showers occur when the Earth moves through a cloud of debris left behind by a comet. The Perseids are debris from Comet Swift-Tuttle. As meteor showers go, this one is top-notch, producing many bright streaks and up to 60 meteors per hour at its peak. The shower runs every year from July 17th to August 24th, but will peak on the night of the 12th and the early morning of the 13th. Look in the direction of the constellation Perseus after midnight for your best chance.

August 16: Mercury at Greatest Eastern Elongation. Mercury will be at its greatest apparent distance (~27 degrees) from the Sun in the sky. It can be a little tricky to observe tiny Mercury as it follows the setting Sun on the Western horizon. The closer you are to the equator, the higher Mercury will be in the sky before it descends, and the easier it will be to see it.

August 27: Conjunction of Jupiter and Venus. You don’t want to miss this one. A conjunction occurs when two or more planets appear to overlap or come very close together in the sky. (Remember, in terms of their physical separations, these planets are still very far away from each other.) This conjunction will take place just after sunset, when Jupiter and Venus will appear less than a tenth of a degree away of each other on the sky. That’s super-close!

There’s not a lot going on in the November sky, but here are couple events you and your family can enjoy, with or without binoculars.

November 5,6: Taurids Meteor Shower. Meteor showers occur when the Earth moves through a cloud of debris left behind by a celestial object, like a comet. The Taurids are unusual in that they are debris from two objects: Asteroid 2004 TG10 and Comet 2P Encke. The meteors will appear to radiate from the constellation Taurus. As meteor showers go, this one is wimpy, with a modest 5-10 meteors per hour at its peak. The shower runs every year from September 7 to December 10, but will peak after midnight in the early morning of the 6th.

November 17,18: Leonids Meteor Shower. The Leonids are debris from Comet Tempel-Tuttle, and appear to radiate from the constellation Leo. As meteor showers go, this one is average with 15 meteors per hour at its peak. The shower runs every year from November 6th to November 30th, but will peak after midnight in the early morning of the 18th.

Here are several fun astronomical events you and your family can enjoy in the month of October — plus, a reminder for the lunar eclipse at the end of September. All you need is an inexpensive telescope or binoculars for most of these events, but some of them are viewable with the naked eye.

Reminder! September 27-28: Total Lunar Eclipse. A total lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth moves between the Sun and the Moon (see below). Unlike a solar eclipse, in which the Moon moves between the Sun and the Earth, you don’t need any protective eyewear to watch a lunar eclipse. During the eclipse, the Moon will gradually get darker, ultimately turning red in color. The lunar eclipse will be visible from the Americas, Europe, Africa, and parts of Asia. See here to determine visibility and times in your part of the world.

October 1: Comet C/2013 US10 Catalina. This comet was discovered on Halloween 2013. It could be bright enough to be visible with the naked eye in the Southern hemisphere by the beginning of October. By mid-November, it should be bright and visible in the North.

October 8: Draconids Meteor Shower. Meteor showers occur when the Earth moves through a cloud of debris left behind by a comet. The Draconids are debris from Comet 21P Giacobini-Zinnere, and appear to radiate from the constellation Draco. As meteor showers go, this one is kind of paltry with a modest 10 meteors per hour at its peak. The shower runs every year from October 6th to October 10th, but will peak in the early evening of the 8th.

October 16: Mercury at Greatest Western Elongation. Mercury will be at its greatest apparent distance from the Sun in the sky (~18 degrees). Mercury is best observed in the morning, just before sunrise.

October 21,22: Orionids Meteor Shower. The Orionids are debris from Comet Halley, and appear to radiate from the constellation Orion. As meteor showers go, this one is average with 20 meteors per hour at its peak. The shower runs every year from October 2nd to November 7th, but will peak the night of the 21st and early morning of the 22nd.

October 26: Venus at Greatest Eastern Elongation. Venus will be at its greatest apparent distance (~46 degrees) from the Sun in the sky. It’s a great time to observe Venus, because it’ll be highest in the sky in the morning, just before sunrise.

October 26: Conjunction of Jupiter and Venus. A conjunction occurs when two or more planets overlap, or appear very close together, in the sky. This is the second conjunction of these two planets this year (the closest occurred in July). In the early morning of the 26th, just before sunrise, Jupiter and Venus will appear within 1 degree of each other on the sky, which is the same distance as two Moon diameters.

October 28: Conjunction of Jupiter, Mars, and Venus. This is a rare three-planet conjunction, in which Jupiter, Mars, and Venus form a 1-degree triangle on the sky. It will be visible in the early morning of the 28th, just before sunrise.

Here are some fun astronomical events you and your family can enjoy in the month of September. All you need is an inexpensive telescope or binoculars for most of these events, but some of them are viewable with the naked eye.

September 4: Mercury at Greatest Eastern Elongation. What this means in plain language is that Mercury will be at its greatest apparent distance (27 degrees) from the Sun in the sky. It’s a great time to observe Mercury, because it’ll be highest in the sky in the evening, just after sunset.

September 23: September Equinox. During an equinox, the Sun shines directly onto the equator, so there is an equal amount of day and night everywhere in the world. This marks the first day of fall in the Northern Hemisphere (Autumnal Equinox), and the first day of spring in the Southern Hemisphere (Vernal Equinox).

September 27-28: Total Lunar Eclipse. A total lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth moves between the Sun and the Moon (see below). Unlike a solar eclipse, in which the Moon moves between the Sun and the Earth, you don’t need any protective eyewear to watch a lunar eclipse. During the eclipse, the Moon will gradually get darker, ultimately turning red in color. The lunar eclipse will be visible from the Americas, Europe, Africa, and parts of Asia. See here to determine visibility and times in your part of the world.

Here are some fun astronomical events you and your family can enjoy in the month of August. All you need is an inexpensive telescope or binoculars for most of these events, but some of them are viewable with the naked eye.

August 7: Mercury, Jupiter, and Regulus will be within one degree of each other in the sky.

August 12-13: Perseids Meteor Shower. Meteor showers occur when the Earth moves through a cloud of debris left behind by a comet. The Perseids are debris from Comet Swift-Tuttle. As meteor showers go, this one is top-notch, producing many bright streaks and up to 60 meteors per hour at its peak. The shower runs every year from July 17th to August 24th, but will peak on the night of the 12th and the early morning of the 13th. Look in the direction of the constellation Perseus after midnight for your best chance.

August 19: Mars will appear to cross in front of the Beehive Cluster, an open cluster of stars located in the constellation Cancer.

August 29: Super Moon. The Moon will be at its closest approach to the Earth during its full moon phase, making it a little bigger and brighter than usual. This will be the first of three Super Moons for 2015.

A bit late in posting this, but there isn’t much going on this month, anyway.

July 29-30: Delta Aquarid Meteor Shower. This shower runs mid-July to mid-August and peaks the night of the 29th / the early morning of the 30th. The meteors are debris from Comets Marsden and Kracht. The expected rate is a moderate 20 meteors per hour.

June 7: Conjunction of the Moon and Mars. Conjunction is when two celestial objects line up along the line of sight from the Earth. For instance, during the New Moon phase, the Moon is in conjunction with the Sun. During this month’s Moon-Mars conjunction, the two objects will come within two degrees of each other in the sky. It’s not super-close — by way of comparison, the angular size of the Moon is just half a degree — but it makes for a nice pairing for binoculars or a telescope.

June 22 – July 2: June Boötids meteor shower. As far as meteor showers go, this one’s pretty wimpy. The expected rate is one to two meteor per night, though on rare occasions there can be strong outbursts. Unlike most meteor showers, this one is best viewed in the evening hours.

Oh, by the way, the much-anticipated Camelopardalid meteor “storm” (camelopardala)didn’t live up to the hype. We were clouded out here in Central Texas, so I didn’t even get a chance to try to watch it. After predictions of possibly hundreds of meteors per hour, the actual tens per hour that were observed must’ve been pretty disappointing to those who had clear skies and tried to watch.