2026 Perseid Meteor Shower

Watch Night – Weds Aug 12

 Gates open at 8:00 PM

Note: Watch the website on day of event for weather cancellations

We are inviting our members to join us at the observatory for the evening.

  ( This is for membership not the public due to our limited space )

Sunset is 8:17 PM and Nautical twilight at 9:17   so no need to come earlier

The Perseid Meteor shower peaks this year on the night of August 12-13. This year, 2026 is an excellent year since the New Moon with a Total Solar eclipse occurs in Britian, France & Spain on the 12th. The Perseids will still be active at a lower rate on our regularly scheduled member night Friday Aug 14 as well.  Some members of the shower can be seen as early as July 14 and late as August 24. The Meteor Shower  Radiant is in the constellation of Perseus which rises in NE about 9:00 PM   It will continue climb higher during the night allowing us to see more meteor activity. Our main focus of the evening will be watching and recording our meteor counts.

Meteor watching is a naked eye event.  There will surely be some Ooohs and Awes as bright meteors streak into view. Occasionally some may leave a latent smoke trail behind.  Bring along your lawn chair, some paper, pencil and a tablet to keep a running tab on your sightings. Just enjoy the evening.  If you want to set up a wide-angle camera for imaging, bring the equipment along. But our main focus is just enjoying the show. In past good years members have seen 100 or more in 3 or 4 hours of viewing.

Bring some cool drinks and snacks.  If you want to bring something to share with others, they will surely be welcomed.  You are welcome to stay as long as you like. 

The Perseid shower is the result from Earth passing through debris — bits of ice and rock — left behind by Comet 109/P Swift-Tuttle , which last passed close to Earth in 1992.  A typical Perseid meteoroid (which is what they're called while in space) moves at 133,200 mph when it hits Earth's atmosphere (and then it is called a meteor). Most of the Perseids are tiny, about the size of a sand grain. The particles themselves are tiny, but what we see as a meteor streaking across the sky is mostly a trial of hot glowing ionized gases compressed heated to temperatures as high as 3,000 F

We will have more information about how to record your meteor count in our August 2026 newsletter coming out soon.  

Resources:

https://www.space.com/perseid-meteor-shower-2026-guide

https://www.space.com/33677-comet-swift-tuttle-perseid-meteor-shower-source.html

Astronomical League Meteor Observing Certificate

  https://www.astroleague.org/meteor-observing-program/