The most dramatic meteor shower of the summer peaks the day of a solar eclipse

SpaceThe most dramatic meteor shower of the summer peaks the day of a solar eclipseA new moon will keep skies dark, making shooting star sightings more likely during the Perseids’ most active phase.Listen to this article with a free profile00:0000:00A shooting star from the Perseid meteor shower streaks across the night sky against the backdrop of the Milky Way, as seen in Schleswig-Holstein, Dahmeshöved, Germany, on Sunday.Daniel Reinhardt / dpa / picture alliance via Getty Images fileShareAdd NBC News to GoogleAug. 11, 2026, 2:53 PM EDTBy Denise ChowOne of the year’s brightest and most popular meteor showers peaks this week, offering a chance to see shooting stars cross a particularly dark sky, thanks to the new moon.The Perseid meteor shower has been underway since mid-July, but is expected to peak overnight from Wednesday to Thursday.Because the moon’s illuminated side is currently facing the sun, with its night side facing Earth, bright moonlight won’t interfere with one of the most anticipated skywatching events of the summer.The Perseids’ peak coincides fortuitously with what is perhaps the season’s most eagerly awaited celestial event: a total solar eclipse that will be visible from Spain, a small part of Portugal, Greenland, Iceland and northern Russia on Wednesday. A total solar eclipse happens when the sun, moon and Earth align and the moon passes in front of the sun, fully obscuring its light.In locations where the eclipse will occur around sunset, people may see Perseid meteors during totality, the minutes when the moon fully blocks the sun’s light, leaving a fiery ring and temporarily darkening the skies.The Perseids are typically one of the most popular meteor showers of the year because of their timing during warm summer months in the Northern Hemisphere (typically from around mid-July to late August) and its high rate of shooting stars. Under ideal conditions — clear weather and dark skies — the Perseids can produce as many as 100 shooting stars per...