Don’t Miss These Ten Celestial Events in 2026, From Aligned Planets to a Total Solar Eclipse

On the heels of a year that brought a dazzling green comet, a rare sunrise eclipse, peak planet viewing, an interstellar visitor and ethereal auroras, you might already be yearning for the next stunning astronomical event.

Luckily, 2026 promises to put on a strong celestial showing, with bright planets, peak meteor conditions, special views of the moon and a total solar eclipse. Look up this year, and you could be rewarded with any of the following cosmic sights—and mark your calendars, as they’re likely to be among the year’s best skywatching spectacles.

January 10: Jupiter at opposition

Early in the year, Jupiter will fall into a special alignment with the Earth and sun, known as opposition. This marks the best time to view the king of planets, as it will appear its brightest in the sky. The impressive sight comes a little less than annually—once every 13 months—so be sure to get your eyes on the gas giant in all its glory.

Any of the planets that lie outside Earth’s orbit can be seen at opposition from our perspective, meaning they’ve formed a line with the sun and Earth, with our planet in the middle. You can imagine a planet at opposition like a full moon—its full illuminated face is turned toward the Earth. So, on January 10, Jupiter will appear its largest and brightest, and you’ll have a chance to see it nearly all night long. Find the planet near the stars Castor and Pollux in Gemini, the celestial twins.

Looking through binoculars or a telescope will dramatically improve your experience, perhaps revealing some of Jupiter’s largest moons or even its Great Red Spot. Because an object at opposition appears so bright in our skies, oppositions give astronomers key opportunities to discover small asteroids.

Saturn will reach opposition on October 4, offering the year’s best view of the ringed planet.

Late February: A six-planet parade

For a special view of the solar system, look up in late February to glimpse a six-planet alignment, also called a planet parade. Mercury, Venus, Saturn, Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune will all be gathered on the same side of the sky, from Earth’s perspective. Saturn, Venus and Mercury will appear as a cluster in the southern sky, while Jupiter will shine brightly near the moon. Uranus and Neptune, however, will not be visible to the naked eye—they’re too faint to make out without the aid of binoculars or a telescope.

All planets orbit on a plane in space known as the ecliptic, making them appear to travel roughly along the same line through our sky. This means that when planets gather on the same side of the sun from Earth, we can see several of them form a rough line.

The next time all seven other planets will be visible at once—known as a full planetary alignment—will be on February 3, 2034. But smaller congregations of planets are much more common—you might have seen some parades throughout 2025, and in 2026, you could also see five planets in late December.

“They aren’t once-in-a-lifetime events,” NASA wrote in February, but “planetary parades afford an uncommon opportunity to look up and appreciate our place in our solar system, with diverse worlds arrayed across the sky before our very eyes.”

March 3: Total lunar eclipse

Though many people across North America might be asleep when it happens, the moon will take on a red-orange hue in the early hours of March 3 in a stunning total lunar eclipse.

During this event, the sun, moon and Earth align perfectly during a full moon. This lineup leads sunlight reflecting off the moon to first pass through Earth’s atmosphere, which scatters away blue and violet wavelengths of light. Only the redder wavelengths reach the moon, illuminating it in an eerie rust-colored glow. For this reason, a total lunar eclipse is also known as a blood moon.

The best time to view the eclipse will vary by your location, but totality will last for 58 minutes, according to Space.com’s Jamie Carter. In the Eastern United States, the moon will set below the horizon while it’s still fully eclipsed, and totality will occur in the early hours of the morning across the continent. The complete eclipse, however, will last more than five hours.

Of all lunar eclipses, only about 29 percent are total eclipses. Following this event, the next total lunar eclipse will occur as 2028 turns into 2029—on New Year’s Eve (though most of North America will not see totality that time).

April 21 to 22: Lyrid meteor shower

An annual spectacle known for its rare outbursts of extra shooting stars, the Lyrid meteor shower will peak the night of April 21 to 22. This year is expected to be a normal year, reaching as many as 18 meteors per hour under dark skies.

When small pieces of space rock and dust collide with Earth’s atmosphere, the resulting friction heats up the particles, leading them to burn brilliantly bright. From the ground, these meteors or shooting stars appear as brief streaks racing through the sky. The Lyrid meteor shower is produced when our planet moves through the debris trail in space left behind by the comet Thatcher, which is on a roughly 415-year orbit around the sun. The meteors will appear to emanate from the constellation Lyra, recognizable by its brightest star, Vega.

The best time to watch the Lyrids will be in the hours after midnight and before dawn on April 22. As with any meteor shower, find a comfortable place with a clear view of the sky and give your eyes about 15 minutes to adjust—that means keeping your phone away, as its artificial light can interfere with your night vision. Peak views will come during the window when Lyra is high in the sky and dawn hasn’t yet broken.

May 31: Full blue micromoon

The full moon at the end of May is special for a few reasons, and its quirky name—a blue micromoon—helps explain why.

First, this full moon will be the second of the month, following the Flower Moon on May 1. This phenomenon is known as a “monthly blue moon,” and it happens because the 29.5-day lunar cycle doesn’t quite line up with the length of our calendar months. So, every once in a while, we’ll get a month that has two full moons. The second one is called a blue moon, though the name has nothing to do with its color. According to EarthSky, a monthly blue moon happens about seven times in 19 years, and the next one will be on December 31, 2028.

The other special thing about late May’s moon is that it’s a micromoon—this full moon will appear a little bit smaller and dimmer than usual. That’s because it occurs near the farthest point, known as the apogee, in the moon’s orbit around Earth. A micromoon is the opposite of a supermoon—though neither one of these is an official astronomical term. In 2026, there will be three micromoons—on May 1, May 31 and June 29—but this one is the farthest, at roughly 252,360 miles away.

August 12: Total solar eclipse

If you’ve been longing for another glimpse of totality after North America’s last total solar eclipse—or if you’re hoping to finally see the spectacle for the first time—here’s some good news: 2026 could be your chance. You just might have to travel to see it.

On August 12, the moon will cast its darkest shadow across our planet for the first time since April 2024. The path of totality will cut across parts of Russia, Greenland, Iceland, Portugal and Spain. Lots of European countries will see a near-total eclipse, and a partial eclipse will also appear to some viewers across Africa, Asia and North America.

In space, the eclipse occurs because the moon passes directly between the sun and the Earth—and by a stroke of cosmic luck, the two celestial bodies appear exactly the same size in our skies, allowing the moon to blot out the sun entirely. That’s because that while the sun is 400 times larger than the moon, it’s also 400 times farther from Earth. So, for people and animals in the path of totality, twilight will appear to occur in the middle of the day—skies will dim, stars will become visible, and the sun’s ethereal outer atmosphere, called the corona, will make a rare appearance.

Eclipse chasers will travel to the scene from around the world, and livestreams will capture the event for others. If you’re viewing in-person, don’t forget your eclipse glasses—looking at the sun without protective equipment can damage your eyes. Totality is the only time when you can take off the special gear and get an unobstructed look at the corona.

August 12 to 13: Perseid meteor shower

This year, avid skywatchers in the right parts of the world could go from seeing a total solar eclipse in the afternoon to spotting dozens of meteors that same night. The Perseids are already perhaps the most popular of the annual meteor showers, but they promise to really live up to the hype in 2026: Since the event falls in close proximity to a new moon, the meteors will not have any interference from moonlight.

Under the darkest skies, the Perseids can number up to 100 meteors per hour, as debris from the comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle slams into Earth’s atmosphere. This shower’s meteors are bright and sometimes colorful, and they can leave a persistent glow long after the shooting star has passed.

According to EarthSky, the mornings of August 12 and 13 might yield the highest rates of Perseid meteors, which fly outward from the constellation Perseus, though August 14 might be good, too. Especially since 2025’s Perseids had to compete with a nearly full moon, this show will bring a highly anticipated sight.

September 18: Venus at peak brightness in the evening

Venus appears as the brightest of the planets, but in September it will offer an even more dazzling view—the planet will reach its highest evening brightness of the year, or its peak viewing in evening skies.

From Earth’s perspective, Venus goes through phases just like the moon does—though you can only make out the difference in its illuminated shape with a telescope. To the naked eye, various phases of Venus will just look brighter or dimmer, and its brightest phase might not be what you’d expect.

Unlike the moon, Venus appears brightest when it’s lit up as a crescent. When Venus is “full,” or its entire illuminated side is facing us, the planet is behind the sun from Earth’s perspective and much farther away. When Venus is a crescent, it’s significantly closer to Earth—and therefore looks much brighter.

Venus orbits between the Earth and the sun, so an astronomer gazing up in the middle of the night will find that Venus is nowhere to be seen. And during the day, Venus will be obscured by the sun and its light. So, the best times for viewing Earth’s sister planet are the morning and evening—giving Venus its two nicknames of the “morning star” and “evening star.”

As the months go on, Venus will switch from being visible at dusk to appearing at dawn. Then, on November 27, the planet will reach its peak brightness in morning skies.

October, November, December: A deluge of meteor showers

The fall and early winter bring an onslaught of annual meteor showers, offering many opportunities for catching a glimpse of a magnificent shooting star.

This year, the Orionid meteor shower will peak from October 21 to 22, bringing a dark-sky hourly rate of up to 20 meteors, which will appear to emanate from the hunter constellation, Orion. The shower’s meteors, caused by debris left behind by the famous Halley’s comet, burn through Earth’s atmosphere at the speed of 41 miles per second.

Just as the Orionids fade, come early November, the skies will be lighting up with Leonid meteors, from a trail of rock and dust left by the comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle. On the night of November 16 to 17, these meteors will peak at around 15 per hour, flying outward from the direction of Leo.

Then, in December, the Geminid meteor shower will reach its radiant climax—and with only a waxing crescent moon in the sky, conditions should be pretty ideal. Widely considered the best and brightest shower of the year, the Geminids, which appear to radiate from Gemini, might peak at a rate of 150 meteors per hour under dark skies. They’re unusual among meteor showers because, rather than coming from a comet, Geminid meteors are thought to be left behind by the asteroid-like 3200 Phaethon.

December 23: Closest supermoon of the year

Following magnificent displays of planets, meteors and a solar eclipse, 2026 will end with a lunar spectacle. For an especially dazzling view of Earth’s natural satellite, look up on the night of December 23 to catch the final supermoon of the year. Its brightest moment will fall at 8:29 p.m. Eastern time, but the moon typically appears full for about three nights, so you’ll have plenty of chances to take in the view.

As a supermoon, this full moon occurs at or near the moon’s closest point to Earth in its orbit, known as the perigee. That makes it slightly bigger and brighter than usual—and though the size difference likely won’t be noticeable, you might think the moon looks to be especially radiant. Compared to a micromoon, like the one on May 31, it appears about 14 percent bigger and 30 percent brighter.

The year’s other two supermoons will fall on January 3 and November 24, but December’s—at about 221,860 miles away—will be the closest and brightest of them all.