Saturn, The Moon, Mars and Meteors!!

With bats patrolling the dusk air in search of mosquito treats and mosquitoes buzzing about me hoping for a nibble, my look at the not quite dark, evening sky was a quick one; but what a treat.  The evening planets of the summer of 2014, Mars (right) and Saturn (left), are separated, almost equidistance, by our exactly quarter, moon (5:50pm EDT).  Mid to high clouds make those three hazy here in central Virginia, for now obscuring any summer stars.  But now, an hour later, post blog, the sky has cleared and the color differences of the two planets is stunning and spectacular, as are the summer stars.
Clouds have hidden the August sky to this point, three days in, blocking the slide of the growing crescent toward the two planets.  The breaks and thinnings today revealed both our nearby star for the first time in August and finally the planet, moon trio. As the moon slips past Saturn during this next Earth rotation our lone satellite will occult - block - the ringed planet for Australian sky watchers as they move into Earth's shadow.  Tomorrow night, here in Virginia, the then slightly gibbous moon will be left (east) of Saturn and while the moon will move away, Mars and Saturn will continue their slower eastward trek through the stars of Virgo and Libra before Mars catches and slides under and by Saturn later this month.
The largest full moon of the year is August 10 and slightly waning gibbous moon 2 and 3 days later will not make for a heavy dose of Perseid meteors this year.  Maybe catch a lucky, early, atmosphere edge skimmer before the moon comes up and outshines all but the brightest shooting stars of one of the year's most consistent showers.
45 minutes before sunrise on August 18, Venus, alone in the pre-dawn sky for much of 2014, gets close company as the king of the planets, Jupiter, continues its rise into the morning sky.  5 days later the waning crescent moon forms a lovely triangle with the two brightest planets.
With the unusually cool and often clear skies brought to the east coast this year by the summer version of the polar vortex, August could be great for checking out the sights of our solar system.  And, if you live where it's really dark, the sights way beyond out solar system and all the way to the heart of our Milky Way galaxy could be out there just waiting for your eyes to catch their long-travelled light...tonight on Earth!!