Aligned Planets & Shooting Stars Tonight

At sunset tonight (8:11 PM in Syracuse), Venus, Saturn, Mars, and the crescent Moon will show up on the western horizon all in tight alignment. They will fit in a circle around 10 degrees in diameter, and no telescope is needed to view this.

Around 10 PM, these 4 objects will drop below the horizon, and they will be followed by the Perseid Meteor Shower. From 10 PM until sunrise, shooting stars will be flying across the sky.

Conditions tonight do not look good for viewing of the planets and meteors. Skies are forecast to be mostly cloudy tonight across Central New York. Hopefully other people on the east coast will have better luck viewing the show tonight.

For more information about the Perseid Meteor Shower: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2010/05aug_perseids/