Perseid Meteor Shower 2026: The Complete Guide

The Perseid meteor shower is one of the most anticipated astronomical events of the year, and 2026 is an especially good year to observe it. Active from mid-July through late August, the Perseids produce more bright meteors than any other meteor shower. They peak on the night of August 12 – 13 and this year, the peak coincides with a new Moon, giving observers one of the best displays in years.

Popularly known as the Tears of St. Lawrence, the Perseids are notable for their fireballs, larger bursts of light produced by larger pieces of cometary debris. The fireballs are usually brighter than the more fleeting meteors, tearing across the sky with magnitudes brighter than -3.

The Perseid meteor shower is associated with the large periodic comet Swift-Tuttle, whose trail of debris Earth passes through every summer. At its peak, the meteor shower can have a zenithal hourly rate of around 100 meteors. In 2026, with the Moon out of the picture, the viewing conditions will be as good as they get.

The Perseid meteor shower is one of the fastest meteor showers visible in the Earth’s sky. Perseid meteors travel up to 58.8 kilometres per second (37 mps).

The meteor shower’s name is partly derived from the Greek Περσείδες (Perseides) or Περσείδαι (Perseidai), a term from Greek mythology meaning “the sons of Perseus.” The name Perseids is pronounced /ˈpɜrsiːɨdz/.

Perseids in 2026

In 2026, the Perseid meteor shower is expected to peak at 10:53 am EDT (4:53 pm CEST), so the meteors are best observed at their usual time, on the night of August 12 – 13. The Perseids are best seen just after midnight until the pre-dawn hours.

The Perseid meteor shower is primarily visible in the northern hemisphere because of the path of the parent comet’s orbit. However, the meteors can be seen all across the sky. Because the radiant in Perseus barely or never rises above the horizon from locations south of the southern tropical latitudes, observers in the southern hemisphere see significantly fewer meteors than those in northern latitudes.

New Moon and total solar eclipse

This year, the peak of the Perseid meteor shower coincides with a new Moon and a total solar eclipse. Unlike most years, the Perseids will not be washed out by moonlight, making the nights leading to the peak an ideal time to observe the bright meteors. The peak occurs during a new Moon only once every 19 years. It has not coincided with both the new Moon and an eclipse since August 12, 1942, and will not again until 2045.

In 2026, a total solar eclipse occurs about seven hours before the peak, and meteors may be visible when the Moon blocks the Sun’s light for a couple of minutes. The total eclipse will be visible from Greenland and parts of Western Europe, while northeastern parts of North America will only see a partial eclipse.

When to watch the 2026 Perseids

The Perseids can be viewed from mid-July, with the peak in activity occurring between August 9 and 14, when 60 or more meteors per hour can be seen rushing across the sky. The peak rates occur in the hours before dawn. Most of the meteors disappear at heights above 80 kilometres.

The exact days, meteor rates, and intensity of the Perseids’ peak (or peaks) are difficult to predict because they change from year to year. Sometimes there are more bright, large meteors and at other times, smaller ones are more plentiful. This happens because of an irregular mass distribution within the meteor shower’s trail.

The Perseids usually peak on August 13, but a relatively young dust filament in the trail pulled off Swift-Tuttle in 1865 can provide an early peak the day before, on August 12.

The Perseid meteor shower can be observed as early as July 23, when one meteor can be seen every hour or so. Over the following weeks, the intensity builds up, and about five meteors per hour can be visible in early August. By August 12 or 13, observers can see between 50 and 80 Perseids per hour. Once the peak period is over, the rate declines to roughly 10 per hour by August 15, and back to only one per hour by August 22.

How many meteors will you see?

The zenithal hourly rate of the Perseids (the number of meteors visible per hour at the peak) differs from year to year. In 1863, it was between 109 and 215 meteors per hour. In 1993, it was as many as 200 – 500 meteors per hour. In 1994 and 2004, the rate also exceeded 200. In 2005, 2007, 2011, 2014, 2018 and 2019, it was below 100. In 2021, it was about 150 meteors per hour. In 2025, it was 100 meteors per hour at the peak.

Where to look: Finding the radiant in Perseus

The radiant of the Perseid meteor shower lies in the direction of the Perseus constellation, near the border with Cassiopeia (the Queen) and Camelopardalis (the Giraffe). Even though the bright Perseid meteors can be seen anywhere in the night sky, they appear to originate from a small region in Perseus.

The radiant is the point from which the Perseids appear to come in the sky. It only forms a chance alignment with the constellation. Perseus stars are light years from Earth, while the meteors are only about 100 kilometres (60 miles) above our planet’s surface.

The radiant of the Perseids lies near the magnitude 8.59 carbon star HD 19557 in the constellation Cassiopeia. The nearest relatively bright star is Miram (Eta Persei), a red supergiant with an apparent magnitude of 3.79.

The main radiant of the Perseids is located in the direction of Miram, and other major radiants are situated near Chi and Gamma Persei. Minor ones are found near Alpha and Beta Persei (Mirfak and Algol), the brightest stars in Perseus.

On summer evenings, the constellation Perseus rises in the northeastern sky in the early evening and makes its way west during the night. For observers in the mid-northern latitudes, the radiant is above the horizon by 9 pm.

Using Cassiopeia’s W to find Miram

Miram can be found using the bright stars of Cassiopeia’s W. A line drawn from Tiansi (Gamma Cassiopeiae), the central star of the W, through Ruchbah (Delta Cassiopeiae), points in the direction of the supergiant. Shining at magnitude 3.79, Miram is visible from areas without too much light pollution.

The Segment of Perseus asterism

Miram is part of an asterism known as the Segment of Perseus, formed by a curving line of stars between Cassiopeia’s W and Auriga’s hexagon. The Segment of Perseus is the most prominent part of the Perseus constellation. It lies between Cassiopeia and Auriga and rises in the east before the bright Pleiades cluster in Taurus.

Auriga’s hexagon is formed by Capella and other bright Auriga stars with Elnath in Taurus. It rises after Perseus in the evening and is fully visible by 1 am.

Perseid meteor storm in 2028

In 2028, we may witness a particularly strong display of bright meteors during the peak. Finnish astronomer Esko Lyytinen has predicted that our planet may encounter an exceptionally thick debris field left behind by the Perseids’ parent comet. This may produce a meteor storm on the night of the peak, August 11 – 12, 2028. The peak rate may exceed a thousand meteors per hour.

The high rate of shooting stars is not unusual for meteor storms. The Leonid meteor storms in 1999, 2001 and 2002 produced up to 3,000 meteors per hour. The Leonids are associated with the comet Tempel-Tuttle and peak in mid-November every year.

Tips for the best view

The Perseids are best viewed from dark locations, away from city lights. The meteors are best seen between the constellation Perseus and the zenith, the point in the sky directly overhead. However, it is not necessary to know where Perseus is located because the meteors appear in all parts of the sky.

The Perseids are easiest to see when the sky is the darkest. This depends on the Moon’s phase, but meteor showers are generally best observed in the hours right before sunrise. The best time to observe the Perseids is between 2 and 4 am, when the Earth is facing into the pebble swarm.

However, it is possible to catch the Perseids as early as 10 pm. To take pictures of the meteors, a camera’s ISO (sensitivity to light) should be set to a high number, with very long exposures (30 seconds at the minimum).

Other meteor showers sharing the sky with Perseids this August

Several other meteor showers are active at this time of the year. The Southern Delta Aquariids are visible from mid-July until late August and peak in late July. The radiant of the faint meteor shower is located near Skat (Delta Aquarii) in the constellation Aquarius.

The Alpha Capricornids are active from early July to mid-August. As the name suggests, the radiant lies in the direction of Capricornus, near the visual double star Alpha Capricorni. The meteor shower produces fewer meteors but is known for the occasional slower-moving fireball.

The Kappa Cygnids, which also produce sporadic fireballs, peak around August 13, but only appear every seven years. They produce around three meteors per hour at the peak.

The comet behind the Perseids: Swift-Tuttle

The Perseid meteor shower is spawned by the comet Swift-Tuttle, formally designated 109P/Swift–Tuttle. Every year, our planet crosses the comet’s orbital path and passes through a trail of debris, causing bits and pieces of the comet to slam into the Earth’s upper atmosphere.

Like all meteor showers, the Perseids represent a spike in the number of meteors, the icy debris and small rocks shed by the comet along its orbit. These meteoroids travel at more than 100,000 miles per hour and leave streaks of light as they ignite and vaporize in the Earth’s upper atmosphere. Those that are somehow not destroyed in the process fall to the ground and are called meteorites.

The trail of debris that appears as falling stars to viewers stretches along the orbit of Swift-Tuttle and is called the Perseid cloud. The particles ejected by the comet have been part of the Perseid cloud for about a thousand years.

Swift-Tuttle is quite large. With a nucleus 26 kilometres or 16 miles across, it is more than twice the size of the object believed to have caused the demise of the dinosaurs. The comet’s size and the size of the meteoroids it leaves behind are the reason why we see so many fireballs during the peak. The largest meteoroids weigh around 7 kilos (15 lb).

The comet’s 133-year orbit and next perihelion in 2126

Swift-Tuttle has an eccentric orbit, one that takes it inside the Earth’s orbit at its closest approach to the Sun and way outside Pluto’s orbit when it is at its most distant from the Sun.

The comet orbits the Sun with a period of roughly 133 years. Whenever it passes through the inner solar system, Swift-Tuttle is warmed by our parent star, which causes it to leave fresh debris along its orbital path.

Swift-Tuttle last reached its closest point to the Sun, known as the perihelion, in December 1992. It will reach it again in July 2126.

In 1992, the comet was rediscovered by Japanese astronomer Tsuruhiko Kiuchi. At the time, it was visible in binoculars. In 2126, it may be visible to the unaided eye again. With an apparent magnitude of 0.7, it will outshine the bright Altair in Aquila and Acrux in Crux.

Mythology: The golden shower and the tears of St. Lawrence

In Greek mythology, the Perseid meteor shower is associated with the Perseus constellation and the myth of Perseus’ conception. It is said to commemorate the time when Zeus, Perseus’ father, visited Danaë, Perseus’ mother, in the form of a golden shower.

The Perseids are sometimes called the “Tears of St. Lawrence” because they peak near the date of the saint’s martyrdom, August 10.

The Perseid meteor shower was first documented in Chinese annals, which mention that “more than 100 meteors flew thither in the morning” in the year 36 AD. The meteor shower is mentioned in a number of records in China, Japan, and Korea between the 8th and 11th centuries, but there aren’t very many references to it between the 12th and 19th centuries.

Discovery and observations: From Quetelet to Schiaparelli

The Belgian astronomer and mathematician Adolphe Quetelet is credited for recognizing the Perseids’ annual appearance. In 1835, Quetelet reported that there was a meteor shower occurring in August, appearing to come from the Perseus constellation.

In 1865, the Italian astronomer and science historian Giovanni Schiaparelli was the one to make the connection between Swift-Tuttle and the Perseids. Schiaparelli realized that the comet was responsible for the meteor shower. This was the first time that a meteor shower was positively associated with a comet.

The comet Swift-Tuttle was discovered independently by two American astronomers, Lewis Swift and Horace Tuttle, in 1862. Swift spotted it on July 16 and Tuttle on July 19. At the time, the comet was as bright as Polaris (mag. 1.99), the 48th brightest star in the sky.

Swift-Tuttle may have been observed by the missionary Ignatius Kegler (Ignaz Kögler) from China on July 3, 1737. Kegler made eight observations on consecutive nights and provided enough information for astronomers to determine the comet’s positions. British astronomer Brian Marsden used the data to calculate correctly that the comet would return in 1992.

Older Chinese records suggest that Swift-Tuttle reached a magnitude of 0.1 in 188 CE, outshining Rigel, the seventh brightest star in the sky. The comet was also likely visible in the years 69 BCE and 322 BCE.

Perseid meteor shower

Radiant	Perseus/Cassiopeia
Nearest star	HD 19557 (mag. 8.59)
Right ascension	03h 13m
Declination	+58°
Nearest bright star	Miram (Eta Persei, mag. 3.79)
Parent body	109P/Swift–Tuttle
First record	36 CE
Dates	July 14 – September 1
Peak	August 12-13
Zenithal hourly rate	100
Velocity	58.8 km/s

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