[Edited from Roger W. Sinnott, http://www.skyandtelescope.com.]  The thin crescent Moon sets early on the evening of August 12th, leaving the sky fully dark for this year’s Perseid meteor shower.  The display should peak later that night for observers throughout the Northern Hemisphere, especially as morning twilight begins.  That’s when the radiant is highest for us [see Sky Watch].  We can expect to see 60 or more Perseids per hour, provided the sky is very clear and dark.
       If you miss the Perseids that night, all is not lost.  The shower lasts for two weeks or so, with excellent rates in the predawn hours of August 10th through 15th.  Far fewer meteors will appear before midnight, even on the night of the shower’s maximum, because the radiant is then quite low in the sky.
       The Perseids originate from debris cast off by Comet Swift-Tuttle.  The meteors that we see are the results of small pieces of debris, perhaps the size of grains of sand, heating up to incandescence by friction with the earth’s atmosphere.
       The Perseids should peak for 12 hours or more, centered on 22h Universal Time on August 12th this year [5:00 PM local time].  European observers are optimally positioned for the Perseid peak, but North Americans are not far behind.

       [Edited from Roger W. Sinnott, http://www.skyandtelescope.com, July 22, 2002.]  Next month a newly discovered asteroid will pass close enough to Earth to be easily spotted in small telescopes and even binoculars.  According to calculations by Gareth V. Williams, associate director of the Minor Planet Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the asteroid's August 18th flyby should bring it to within 330,000 miles of Earth, just outside the Moon's orbital distance.
       Astronomers first detected this object, designated 2002 NY40, on July 14th with the 1-meter LINEAR telescope in New Mexico.  Thus it was picked up a full month before brushing by Earth, unlike asteroid 2002 MN, whose pass well inside the Moon's orbit was not realized until several days after the fact.  The best current estimates suggest that this new interloper is about 0.3 mile across — significantly larger than 2002 MN.
       Still quite faint at magnitude 18, 2002 NY40 is making a very tight loop around the star Beta Aquarii. During the next few weeks it will brighten tremendously and yet remain almost motionless in the sky - the eerie signature of an asteroid hurtling right toward Earth!  On the night of Saturday, August 17th, 2002 NY40 should reach magnitude 9.3 when well placed for viewing from North America.  At that time its angular velocity will exceed 4 arcminutes per minute, a motion easily perceptible in small telescopes.  Sky & Telescope plans to issue detailed observing instructions, through www.skyandtelescope.com, in the days leading up to this rare event.

       [Excerpted from article entitled Wacko Liberals, on Limbaugh’s website, http://www.rushlimbaugh.com.]  Liberal activists in Loudoun County Virginia, about an hours drive from Washington, want to preserve the night sky.  They proposed legislation that could force residents and business to shut off their lights, in some cases as early as 9 p.m. . . 
       Now these liberals are working with Dark Sky International, an Arizona wacko outfit whose mission is, and I quote, "To protect and preserve the nighttime environment and our heritage of dark skies through quality outdoor lighting."  Elizabeth Alvarez, the groups associate director, says they try to teach people when, where and how much light they should be using for energy and environmental reasons. . .
       What the heck do these people expect?  At 9 o'clock every night civilization will turn off and everybody's going to go out and look at the sky because it's being protected by these Neanderthals?  The sky, whether it's daytime or nighttime, doesn't need protection - we do - from these wacko liberals who are always totally in the dark.  This story establishes and proves that.