Two eclipses are taking place in August. Here’s where you can view them.

As we wrap up these final days of July and head into August, one of the things that will be decreasing is the amount of daylight. But for folks interested in the night sky, that means more darkness to work with, and that brings some wonderful opportunities, including a partial lunar and, to a lesser extent, solar eclipse.

August is when the night sky really gets interesting. The Perseids, the best meteor shower of the year, continue to grow in intensity and peak on the night of Aug. 12, and this time the moon actually cooperates: it’s new that same day, so skies will be dark enough to catch the show in full.

“It’s predicted to have between 50 and 100 of these shooting stars per hour,” said Francine Jackson, staff astronomer at the Ladd Observatory at Brown University. “Many watch this one more than any other because it’s easy to lie on the grass, or on a chaise lounge, without worrying about dressing up like for an Arctic expedition.”

Aug. 12 is also the date of a total solar eclipse, though not for us much in North America. The path of totality sweeps through the Arctic, Greenland, Iceland, and into northern Spain — the first total solar eclipse visible from mainland Europe in 27 years. Amazingly, the last one for mainland Europe was on Aug. 11, 1999.

Unfortunately, from New England, we’ll only catch a partial eclipse, if anything at all.

“The solar eclipse here in Southern New England will be about 14 percent, beginning about 1:02 p.m. (EDT),” Jackson said. She cautioned that “this cannot be observed with the naked eye. You must have eye protection to view it.”

But hang on, because we do have an eclipse of our own late in August — the deep partial lunar eclipse. On the night of Aug. 27 into early Aug. 28, 96 percent of the moon’s face will slide into Earth’s shadow enough that the moon should take on that reddish “blood moon” glow at its peak, just after midnight.

Jackson said it’ll almost “seem as if the moon has a ‘polar cap.’ It will begin to enter the Earth’s major shadow, the umbra, at 10:33 p.m., with the most coverage at 12:12 a.m. before the moon leaves the umbra at 1:52 a.m.”

That’s also the same night as the Sturgeon Moon, August’s full moon, which peaks at 12:18 a.m. ET. Obviously, we won’t know the weather for quite a while, but hopefully it cooperates so we get a chance to see this wonder of nature.

But you don’t have to wait until August and the eclipses to enjoy what the wondrous night sky has to offer.

In terms of planets, this last week in July offers something for night owls or morning people, if the weather cooperates once the storm moves through. Venus dominates the evening, hanging bright in the west after sunset all month long. Jupiter, which was down with Venus early on, has been sinking lower by the day and will soon disappear into the sun’s glare entirely. It will actually reemerge in the morning sky next month.

For now, the morning belongs to Mars and Saturn, with Mars keeping its faint reddish cast low in the east before dawn, and Saturn rising a little earlier each night, climbing higher and higher until it’s visible well before midnight by month’s end. If you can get clear skies and somewhere dark, you’ll actually be able to see the rings of Saturn.

The moon will continue to wax, becoming full this Wednesday, although the cloudiness and rain will likely cover it up. This is called the Buck Moon, and the summer moon doesn’t get very high in the sky. Instead, it tracks a path similar to where the sun sits in early winter, skimming low along the southern horizon rather than arcing overhead.

Also, two lesser-known meteor showers, the Southern Delta Aquariids and Alpha Capricornids, both peak on Thursday and Friday night (July 30-31). Normally that’s a nice little preview of the Perseids to come, but the nearly full moon will wash out all but the brightest fireballs this year.

So the next month or so gives us a bit of both the reliable and the rare. Venus, the moon phases, even the Perseids. These show up every year, right on schedule. But a solar eclipse crossing into Europe, and a partial lunar eclipse (the latter of which we get to watch start to finish from our own backyard), those don’t come around nearly as often. Get outside for both kinds!