Summer's best meteor shower gets underway
The Perseid meteor shower is touted as one of the top meteor showers every year, and 2026 is shaping up to be a great year with nearly ideal viewing conditions.
The Perseids became active on July 17 and will remain active through the middle of August. Peak activity is expected Aug. 12-13, with 60-100 meteors per hour under favorable viewing conditions.
The Perseid meteor shower, considered the best meteor shower of 2026, is about to begin, and this year’s show is lining up with nearly ideal conditions.
The Perseid meteor shower gets underway in mid-July, starting as a slow trickle before ramping up toward its peak in mid-August. Viewing conditions are expected to be especially favorable in 2026 because the peak coincides with a new moon, leaving the sky darker and making it easier to spot fainter meteors.
As many as 50 meteors per hour may be visible from rural areas when the shower peaks on the night of Aug. 12 into the early hours of Aug. 13. Under a pristine dark sky, the rate could climb closer to 60-100 meteors per hour.
The peak also coincides with the total solar eclipse on Aug. 12 happening across parts of eastern Greenland, western Iceland, northern Spain and a small part of Portugal.
A composite photo of a meteor shower over a forest. (Getty Images/Craig Taylor)
"The Perseids are the most popular meteor shower as they peak on warm August nights as seen from the northern hemisphere," the American Meteor Society explained.
The shower is named after the constellation Perseus, the part of the sky where the meteors appear to originate. People do not need to stare directly at Perseus to see the event, since meteors can streak across many parts of the sky.
The first meteors may appear not long after nightfall, but the best viewing will come during the second half of the night as the radiant point climbs higher in the northeastern sky.
No telescope or binoculars are needed. The best way to watch is to find a dark, open area away from city lights, spread out a blanket or reclining chair and look up at as much of the sky as possible.
It can take up to 15 minutes for eyes to adjust to the dark, so people should avoid bright lights, including phone screens. If a flashlight is needed, a red light can help preserve night vision.
A meteor shower with the Milky way, taken in Garmisch-Partenkirchen in the Alps. Shooting stars are stacked according to their positions in the sky to show the (oppisite) radiant. (Getty Images/Dneutral Han)
The only annual meteor shower that regularly rivals the Perseids is the Geminids in mid-December, which can produce even higher meteor rates. The tradeoff is the timing: December often brings colder weather and more cloud cover across the United States, making the Perseids a more comfortable and dependable summer favorite.
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