Astronomical events for August 2026: Meteor showers, eclipses and a Sturgeon Moon
This month doubles up on eclipses, meteor showers and planetary elongations
It’s time again to try some stargazing.
This month is jam-packed with things to see in both the late-night sky and the early morning haze. We’ll have a perfect chance to spot two close planets, two eclipses in a single month, and possibly two meteor showers, and we’ll round out the marathon with a Sturgeon Moon.
Related video above: Eclipse across America (2024)
Read on for the full list of astronomical events in August.
First week of August — Mercury at greatest elongation west
If you wanted to take a peek at the closest planet to the sun, now is the time. The exact date of Mercury’s greatest elongation west this summer is Aug. 2, but you can still see it within a week of the event.
Greatest elongation west just means that Mercury is farthest from the sun in the morning sky. This makes it much easier to spot Mercury, which is usually dwarfed by the size and light of the sun. When it appears in the morning, it is referred to as a “morning star.” To the naked eye, it appears as a white, twinkling “star” that eventually reveals a rosy-gold color.
A composite of the Nov. 11, 2019, transit of Mercury across the disk of the sun.
Aug. 12 — Partial solar eclipse (new moon)
Parts of the northeastern U.S. will be able to view a partial solar eclipse this month. The viewing path of the eclipse stretches from Minnesota to North Carolina. In Europe, it’s the first total solar eclipse since 1999.
The eclipse will begin in North America at approximately 11:34 a.m. EST and be visible until around 4 p.m., according to timeanddate.com. The partial solar eclipse is paired with a partial lunar eclipse later this month. Remember to wear your eclipse glasses.
In this composite image, the sun is eclipsed as the moon passes between Earth and the sun in Washington, D.C., April 8, 2024.
Aug. 12-13 — Perseid meteor shower peaks
One of the brighter and more prominent meteor showers of the year, the Perseids occur every year at the end of summer. The meteors that burn up in the atmosphere consist of debris from the comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle and are named after the constellation Perseus, which is also the shower’s radiant, or where they originate in the night sky.
The Perseids will be most visible in the pre-dawn hours, meaning after moonset and before sunrise. At peak, you may be able to see up to 50-100 meteors per hour and even a few fireball meteors, according to NASA. Also, you may see remnants of the Delta Aquarids meteor shower in a different part of the sky, which should taper off around the middle of the month, according to NASA. Check for clear weather and get out there a bit early so that your eyes have 15-30 minutes to adjust to the dark.
Perseid meteor shower is observed at Mount Nemrut Ruins, a UNESCO World Heritage Site at the 2,150-meter-altitude in Adiyaman, Turkey, on Aug. 11, 2024.
Aug. 15 — Venus at greatest elongation east
The second planet from the sun is usually the third brightest object in our sky, after the sun and moon. However, at its greatest elongation, it’s even easier to spot. As with Mercury, greatest elongation means that the planet has reached its farthest distance from the sun. When Venus’ elongation is in the east, that means it is farthest from the sun in the evening sky, making it an “evening star.”
Because Venus has a thick atmosphere due to its runaway greenhouse effect and is close in proximity to Earth, it shines very brightly in the sky, often appearing as a steady, white-yellow dot. If you miss Venus now, you’ll have to wait at least 50 days as it hides behind the sun, before it becomes a “morning star” for another roughly eight-month period.
The planet Venus captured by the Magellan probe’s mapping radar, 1990.
Aug. 27-28 — Partial lunar eclipse
To close out the second eclipse season of this year, we have a partial lunar eclipse. This lunar eclipse will be totally visible to all of the Americas and partially visible to Europe and Africa.
A lunar eclipse consists of ascending and descending stages: penumbral, partial and maximum. Penumbra refers to the faint outline of a shadow, in this case Earth’s shadow. The penumbral eclipse phase begins at approximately 9:23 p.m. EST, according to timeanddate.com.
This is considered only a partial eclipse because at its maximum, it will only cover a magnitude of 0.93 of the lunar surface — with just a little sliver of the moon still being hit by the sun’s light.
Total eclipse of the moon on March 3, 2026, captured during the partial phase, with a large portion of the Moon’s disk at the southeastern limb still lit by “normal” sunlight, though that area is still in the penumbral shadow of the Earth.
Aug. 28 — Sturgeon Moon
The full moon of late August is known as the Sturgeon Moon, named after the fish found in several regions of North America, primarily around the Great Lakes.
“Sturgeon Moon” is another moon name that originates with North American explorer Jonathan Carver’s 1778 book “Travels through the interior parts of North-America in the years 1766, 1767, and 1768.” Carver cited the names for his original list of monthly moons to an unspecified “Indian” tribe, and the names are now thought to be primarily Algonquin in origin. It is so named “because in this month they catch great numbers of that fish,” he wrote.
Other Indigenous names for the moon include the Corn Moon (Algonquin, Ponca), the Harvest Moon (Abenaki, Creek), the Plum Moon (Shawnee), the Huckleberry Moon (Ojibwe), the Courting Time Moon (Choctaw) and the Moon When Young Ducks Begin To Fly (Cree). The Celtic names for the August full moon are the Grain Moon and the Dispute Moon, so named for both the harvest and the idea that disputes should be resolved heading into the leaner time of year.
A Sturgeon supermoon rising behind San Bernardino church dome in L’Aquila (Abruzzo, Italy), on Aug. 12, 2022.