DENVER -- August 1st brought a total solar eclipse. Unfortunately this solar eclipse was not observable for most of North America. It was seen in Northeastern Canada, Northern Greenland and portions of Europe and Asia.

On August 12 watch for the Perseids Meteor Shower. The Perseids peak around 5:00 a.m. MST so you'll have to get up early to catch them. The Perseids are the most famous of all meteor showers. The "shooting stars" seem to radiate from the constellation Perseus and are named after the Greek hero who slew the monster Medusa. There's nothing monsterous about the showers however. They are known for beautiful displays of 50-80 meteors per hour at the peak. The shower actually begins in late July or early August and end by the third week of August. OnHowever, only a few meteors can be seen outside of peak.

A Partial Lunar Eclipse occurs on August 16. The covering of the Moon won't be visible from Colorado or most of North America. A Lunar Eclipse occurs when all or part of the Moon becomes covered by the Earth's shadow.

Evening Planets:

Jupiter is brilliant in the SSE at dusk. It will be near the "teapot" of Sagittarius on Aug. 9-13.

Venus is low in the west at dusk. It sets about an hour after sundown.

Mars is the faintest and highest up of four western twilight planets.

Saturn remains up in midtwilight until Aug. 18.

Mercury is seen above the horizon in midtwilight from Aug. 10. Look for Mercury to the lower right of Venus and Mars well to the upper left of Venus from Aug. 10-18. Saturn will be moveing SE through the Venus/Mars grouping.

Morning Planets:

Moon:

New Moon: Aug. 1

First quarter: Aug. 8

Full Moon: Aug. 16

Last quarter: Aug. 23

New Moon: Aug. 30

This month in space history:

Aug. 30 (1983) - 25th Anniversary of Space Shuttle Challanger mission that boosted the first African-American, Guy Buford, into space.