Stargazers will be treated to one of the best celestial shows of the year this week.
Before sunrise on Wednesday, Jupiter, Mercury, Mars, Uranus, Saturn and Neptune will appear across the eastern horizon.
That'll be followed by a partial solar eclipse around midday Wednesday. And then, the Perseid meteor shower will peak late Wednesday night into the pre-dawn hours of Thursday.
"I think that makes Aug. 12 such a phenomenal day for astronomy. So, if you're interested in space, get your friends out and go and observe," said Jim Bader, Director of the Strasenburgh Planetarium at the Rochester Museum and Science Center.
You won't need a telescope or binoculars to view the meteor shower. It will be visible with the naked eye. But Rochester's weather forecast for Wednesday night calls for clouds and rain, and that would obstruct the view. Assuming there is a break in the clouds, Bader recommends getting as far away from lights as possible.
"Even if it means you're just avoiding a few streetlights and you're looking at it from your backyard, anywhere you can have a nice, comfortable view of the stars, where you have more time to just look up," he said.
There is a Rochester connection to Perseid. The meteor shower consists of debris from the Swift-Tuttle Comet, which was co-discovered by astronomer Lewis Swift in 1862.
Swift was born in Clarkson and made many of his discoveries in Rochester.
