Moon tour: The Perseid last quarter Moon

Our natural satellite will interfere with this month’s meteor shower, but it’s worth looking at in its own right

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Every year amateur astronomers and sky-watchers look forward to the Perseid meteor shower, which reaches its peak mid-August. For the past few years the sky has been lovely and dark for the shower, but this year a very bright Moon will be shining close to the part of the sky the meteors come from, which will greatly reduce the number we will see. However, the Moon itself will be a fascinating sight, so this month our Moon Tour doesn’t just have a single destination. Instead we’re going on a sightseeing cruise around the most striking features visible on the Moon after it rises around midnight on 12 August, the date of the peak.