The Most Powerful Meteor Shower of the Year Is Happening This Month — Along With a Supermoon and Planet Sightings

The Perseids Meteor Shower will dazzle the skies this month.

At long last, August’s buzzed-above and powerful interstellar marvel is here. The Perseids, considered one of the brightest meteor showers of the year, could bring dozens upon dozens of shooting stars, and even vibrant fireballs, to our skies mid-month.

And that’s not the only attraction worth staying up for. August marks the first supermoon of the year, plus the return of aurora season in far-north locales like Iceland and Alaska — and this year could see some of the brightest northern lights in decades. (Don’t miss our guide on how to chase auroras.)

Read on for the best night-sky sights to skip sleep for this month.

Aug. 4: New Moon

For the darkest skies and brightest stars, head out to watch the stars tonight, the night of the new moon—particularly from a place with low light pollution, such as our favorite stargazing hotels. During a new moon, our lunar neighbor has no illumination. That’s why stargazers plan their trip around this stage of the moon’s cycle. Even better: the Milky Way core will become visible earlier and earlier in the night from now until late fall.

Aug. 5: Crescent Moon Meets Venus

Just after sunset on Monday, Aug. 5, point your eyes to the western horizon to catch Venus and the crescent moon nearing each other, according to stargazing app SkySafari. The duo will travel toward the horizon for roughly one hour after sunset. Just left of them is Mercury, although this close-to-the-sun planet is trickier to spot with the naked eye.

Aug. 11-13: Perseid Meteor Shower Peaks

The most powerful meteor shower of the year will peak between midnight to the early morning from roughly Aug. 11 to 13, with the highest odds of shooting stars overnight on Aug. 12, according to the American Meteor Society. The Perseids, which appear near the constellation Perseus in the northeast-east sky, could produce up to 100 meteors per hour from a destination with few clouds and minimal light pollution, such as a national park. The shower will be particularly dazzling after the moon sets around 12 a.m. Originating from the large parent comet Swift-Tuttle, the Perseids are known for particularly bright and colorful meteors, known as fireballs. In fact, NASA says it produces more fireballs than any other meteor shower.

Aug. 14: Moon Joins Jupiter

Prepare for another moon-and-planet hangout: the meeting of Mars and Jupiter on the morning of Aug. 14. According to SkySafari, the planets will link up (and be viewable together in a pair of stargazing binoculars) for the majority of the month, but they’ll reach their closest point overnight Aug. 14, with Mars approaching Jupiter from the upper right. Look for the pair above the east-northeast horizon, with the best viewing around 2 a.m. locally.

Aug. 19: Supermoon

It’s been a long wait, but the year’s first supermoon will finally bejewel our skies on Aug. 19, according to Space.com. The marvel — when the moon appears brighter and larger than normal — is best viewed around sunset, as the moon rises above the east-southeast horizon. This month’s full moon is not just a supermoon; it’s also known as the full sturgeon moon, named for the fish that reach an abundance this time of year, according to the Farmer’s Almanac.

Aug. 27: Moon Meets Mars and Jupiter

Early risers, take note: in the pre-dawn hours of Tuesday, Aug. 27, stargazers can catch the crescent moon glowing above Mars and Jupiter in the eastern sky. The trio will create a pyramid near the Taurus constellation, with orange-tinged Betelgeuse — the second brightest star in Orion, and ninth-brightest in the night sky — hovering below. They’ll begin to appear together above the horizon around 2 a.m. and will continue to rise eastward until sunrise.

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