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Triple sky show this week: Planet parade, Perseid meteors, Europe's first total solar eclipse since 1999

FILE - In this long exposure photo, a streak appears in the sky during the annual Perseid meteor shower at the Guadarrama mountains, near Madrid, in the early hours of Aug. 12, 2016.
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Stargazers, get ready for a spectacular celestial sight this week!

Parade of Planets

In the predawn hours early Wednesday morning, you can catch a parade of planets including Saturn, Mars, Jupiter and Mercury. It will help to have binoculars to see Mercury and Jupiter, which will sit very low on the pre-dawn horizon. Take note that the current sunrise time in West Palm Beach is 6:50 a.m.

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Meteor Shower


The Perseid meteor shower peaks overnight from Wednesday, Aug.12 into the early morning of Thursday, Aug. 13. All you have to do is find a dark area away from lights and look up.

The good news is that we have a new moon, which offers darker skies and better viewing. Up to 30 to 50 meteors are anticipated per hour.

The meteor shower also coincides with two other active meteor showers, allowing for an even better opportunity to catch a shooting star.

Total Solar Eclipse in Europe

Meanwhile, there's also a total solar eclipse that will take place in portions of Europe on Wednesday, visible for portions of Spain, Greenland, Iceland and Russia.

This is the first total solar eclipse in Europe since 1999.