Saturday in Whitewater will be rainy with a high of 72. Sunrise is 5:46 and sunset is 8:15 for 14 hours 29 minutes of daylight. The moon is a waning gibbous with 91 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1774, British scientist Joseph Priestley discovers oxygen gas, corroborating the prior discovery of this element by German-Swedish chemist Carl Wilhelm Scheele.
A solar eclipse, one of the year’s best meteor showers, Venus at its brightest in the evening sky, and a partial lunar eclipse to close out the month.
On August 12, a total solar eclipse crosses northern Russia, Greenland, Iceland, northern Spain, and a small corner of Portugal. In parts of the United States, from Alaska to North Carolina, the eclipse will be partial. Use certified eclipse glasses or a safe solar viewer whenever any part of the Sun is visible.
Later that night, the Perseid meteor shower peaks under the dark skies of the New Moon. Around August 14 through 16, Venus shines low in the west after sunset, and on August 27-28, a partial lunar eclipse is visible from much of the Americas and parts of Europe and Africa.
