Most of the planet activity is in the morning sky this August, with only Jupiter serving as an evening “star” during the first half of the month and Mercury barely visible for the first few days.

If you are able to be in an observing mode at dawn or before, look for Venus blazing away in the east with Saturn not far below it. The Perseid meteor shower, usually our most reliable display, has some good things going for it this year.

Aug. 1: Mercury will be the width of your hand (held at arm’s length) to the lower right of very bright Jupiter. At 8:30 p.m., Jupiter will be nearly due west and well over a hand above the horizon. (All times are given for the Lewiston-Auburn area.)

Aug. 7: The moon will be at its last quarter phase, and we can find it high in the southern sky as the sun rises about 5:30 a.m. It will be easy to spot later that morning as well. If you look around 10 a.m., you will find the moon fairly high and just to the left of west.

Aug. 11-12: The Perseid meteor shower will reach its peak in the late evening and early morning hours. These meteors are caused by a stream of small particles left behind by a comet called Swift-Tuttle as it orbits the sun. Some experts are predicting that earth will pass through a secondary stream giving rise to a burst of meteors lasting perhaps an hour. The predicted time favors Europe, but if it happens several hours later we could see something special here.

It is also expected that the normal peak will be better than normal this year, and North America is a good place to see that. The favored viewing time is between 11 p.m. and 2:30 a.m. No moonlight will interfere with the seeing this year. Choose a dark location where you can see as much of the sky as possible.

It will be best to look close to the top of the sky, so a recliner would serve you well. And don’t forget the DEET repellent.

Aug. 12: A lovely crescent moon will hang less then a hand left of Venus.

Because of its brightness, there will be no mistaking Venus, which will be well up and due east at 5 a.m.

Aug. 17: At about 8:15 p.m., we will see a slender crescent moon half a hand right of Jupiter, which will be quite low and due west.

The moon will be to the upper left of Jupiter the following evening.

Aug. 31: Venus and Saturn will appear just one finger apart, with Saturn a bit higher and to the left. They should be easy to spot as late as 5:15 a.m.

August often provides us with more clear skies than other parts of the summer, and it gives us a nifty meteor shower as well. Probably red wine would go best with it, since the shower is meteor.

Roger Ptak is professor emeritus of physics and astronomy at Bowling Green State University in Ohio and author of the popular astronomy book “Sky Stories.” He and his wife now live in Northport. His e-mail address is dptak//fermi.bgsu.edu/~ptak/star/star.html

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