What’s up in the night sky: August 2026

Welcome to our night sky monthly feature, where we focus on easy and fun things to see in the night sky, mostly with just your eyes. This month is full of great stuff: a total solar eclipse, an almost total lunar eclipse, dark nights for meteor shower watching, and a planetary parade.

All month: Super bright Venus dominates the early evening western sky.

All month: Reddish Mars is in the east before dawn. 

All month: Yellowish Saturn rises in the east in the evening and is high in the sky before dawn. 

Early in the month: Bright Mercury is low in the east in the pre-dawn.

Later in the month: Very bright Jupiter is coming up low in the east shortly before dawn.

August 2: Mercury is at its highest point above the horizon for this viewing period. It is in the pre-dawn east.

August 11: There is a six-planet “planet parade” across the pre-dawn sky this night and several following nights. Only four of the planets are easily seen with just your eyes: bright Mercury, very bright Jupiter, reddish Mars, and yellowish Saturn. Uranus will likely require binoculars or a telescope to see, and Neptune will require a telescope.

August 12: New Moon

August 12: A total solar eclipse will be visible from portions of Greenland, Iceland, Portugal, and Spain. Much of Europe, as well as northeastern North America, will see a partial eclipse (wear safety glasses!). See our eclipse articles for more information, including maps.

August 12 and 13: The Perseid meteor shower, usually one of the best meteor showers of the year, peaks overnight August 12-13, with increased activity several days before and after. Viewing will be ideal this year with a New Moon at the time of the peak, so it will not interfere with visibility. From a very dark site, there are typically 50 to 75 meteors per hour at the peak. Meteor rates are likely to be better later in the night. Go out and stare at the sky. Streaks of light will reward you.

August 15: Very bright Jupiter and bright Mercury are only half a degree apart in the sky, the equivalent of a Moon diameter. The bad news is they will be very low to the eastern horizon during the glow of the pre-dawn.

August 15: The crescent Moon is near super-bright Venus in the evening west.

August 28: Full Moon.

August 28: A partial lunar eclipse with 96% of the Moon in Earth’s umbral (dark, central) shadow will be visible from North and South America, with portions of the eclipse visible in Africa, Europe, and the Middle East.