August 2026 Brings 2 Eclipses and Perseids Peaking at 100 Meteors an Hour

Q: As the August 27 lunar eclipse approaches 96 percent coverage, will the moon transform into a haunting coppery red or vanish entirely?

It will not vanish entirely. The Aug. 27–28 event is a very deep partial lunar eclipse, not a total one, so a thin bright sliver of the Moon will remain visible even at maximum eclipse. What many skywatchers can expect is an “almost blood moon” effect. Because roughly 93% to 96% of the lunar disk will be inside Earth’s dark umbral shadow, most of the Moon is likely to dim and take on a coppery, reddish-orange cast rather than disappear. That color comes from sunlight filtered and bent through Earth’s atmosphere, the same effect that reddens sunsets. The exact look will vary. If Earth’s atmosphere is especially clear, the shadowed Moon may appear brighter orange-red; if there is more dust, smoke or haze in the atmosphere, it can look darker, deeper red or brownish. But because the eclipse never reaches totality, it should not become a true all-red “blood moon,” nor should it turn fully black. At maximum, observers should see a narrow sunlit edge alongside a mostly darkened, potentially copper-colored Moon. Several astronomy references describe the deepest phase as leaving only a slim bright crescent while the rest of the surface glows faintly red-orange. The eclipse is safe to watch with the naked eye. In the Americas, where viewing will be best, maximum eclipse occurs around 12:12 a.m. EDT on Aug. 28, with equivalent local times of 11:12 p.m. CDT, 10:12 p.m. MDT and 9:12 p.m. PDT on Aug. 27.

Q: With a rare solar eclipse days away, what secret makes this year's Perseid meteor shower the most spectacular in recent memory?

The “secret” is the Moon: the Perseids peak under a new moon on Aug. 12, so there will be virtually no moonlight washing out faint meteors. That gives 2026 some of the darkest peak conditions in years, which is why astronomers are calling it one of the best Perseid displays in recent memory. The timing is unusually favorable. The shower peaks overnight Aug. 12–13, just hours after the solar eclipse that can only happen at new moon. That same new moon leaves the night sky moonless, allowing skywatchers in dark locations to potentially see 50 to 100 meteors an hour, with ordinary rural-sky rates often closer to 25 to 50. Experts also note that the Perseids are one of the brightest and most reliable annual showers. They are produced when Earth passes through debris from Comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle, and many Perseid meteors are fast, colorful and capable of leaving persistent glowing trails. Larger bits can produce fireballs. For the best show, look after midnight and especially before dawn on Aug. 13, when the radiant in Perseus climbs higher and more meteors become visible. Find a dark site away from city lights, give your eyes 20 to 30 minutes to adjust, and use the naked eye rather than a telescope. In short, it is not that the Perseids themselves are unusually active this year. It is that the peak arrives with nearly perfect dark-sky conditions, thanks to the new moon tied to the eclipse.

Q: Why might the upcoming August 12 solar eclipse plunge parts of Europe into sudden darkness while merely dazzling North American skywatchers?

Because Europe sits under the eclipse’s narrow path of totality, while North America is mostly in the much wider partial-shadow zone. On Aug. 12, the Moon’s darkest central shadow — the umbra — will cross Greenland, Iceland, northern Spain and a small part of Portugal. In those places, the Moon will completely cover the Sun for up to a little more than two minutes, briefly turning daytime into twilight or near-darkness and revealing the Sun’s corona. That is the dramatic “sudden darkness” associated with a total solar eclipse. North America, by contrast, lies mostly in the penumbra, the Moon’s partial shadow. That means viewers there will see only part of the Sun covered — in many U.S. locations just a small “bite” out of the solar disk. Even a deep partial eclipse does not produce the same darkness as totality, because a thin sliver of Sun is still bright enough to keep the landscape largely lit. The difference is purely geometric: a total solar eclipse is visible only along a narrow track where the Sun, Moon and Earth align perfectly. Outside that track, the alignment is incomplete, so the eclipse is partial. On this date, that narrow track crosses parts of Europe but not the United States. Wherever the eclipse is partial, including North America and much of Europe outside the totality corridor, certified eclipse glasses or proper solar filters are required for safe viewing.

3 articles · Updated · WMUR Manchester · Aug 5

August 2026 packs two eclipses, the Perseid meteor shower, Mercury and Venus elongations, and the late-month Sturgeon Moon into one stargazing-heavy month.
Aug. 12 combines a partial solar eclipse with the Perseids’ peak: parts of the northeastern U.S. can see the eclipse, while pre-dawn skies may produce 50-100 meteors an hour and occasional fireballs.
Mercury reached greatest western elongation on Aug. 2, making it easier to spot in the morning sky, and Venus hits greatest eastern elongation on Aug. 15 as a bright evening object.
Aug. 27-28 closes the month with a partial lunar eclipse visible across all of the Americas, reaching a maximum magnitude of 0.93 before the Aug. 28 full Sturgeon Moon.