Each night this weekend

Grab your lawn chairs, blankets, kids and hot chocolate and plan to camp out this weekend.

If you do, you’re in for a stellar show.

"This is the Perseid meteor shower," said amateur astronomer Dan Neal.

Skies will be very dark this weekend, since it's a new moon, which means it's a great time to be stargazing. No binoculars or telescopes are needed for this celestial event.

For specifics on the meteor shower and its history, watch for the full story in Saturday's World.

For those of you who want to hang out with Neal and look at other deep space things, there are opportunities tonight through Sunday. Neal will be bringing along telescopes from Southwestern Oregon Community College's collection to each event so people can see Jupiter and other objects.

Here's the schedule:

Friday: At 8 p.m., Neal will give an astronomy talk at the Sunset Beach State Park picnic building near Charleston.

Saturday: At  8 p.m., Neal will be at Bullards Beach State Park north of Bandon in the ampitheater presenting a talk.

Sunday: At 9:30 p.m., Neal and other amateur astronomers will be at the overlook on the Coos Bay North Spit. To get there, head three miles out the TransPacific Lane from U.S. Highway 101. Watch for two large red reflectors on a 4-by-4 sign. That's the overlook entry.