Kelly Beatty says the August 2026 meteor shower will peak the same night two eclipses cross the sky above Massachusetts. The best viewing for Greater Bostonians and the broader region is around 2 p.m. Wednesday for the solar eclipse, then around 9 p.m. for the Perseids and later for the lunar eclipse.
Kelly Beatty on Massachusetts skies
Tiziana Dearing spoke with Beatty about what to expect when looking up. He said the solar eclipse will cover about one sixth of the sun in this view, and that viewers need approved eclipse glasses that are not damaged or scratched. He also said binoculars and projection can show the partially eclipsed sun, adding, "You'll get a very nice image of the partially eclipsed sun that can be seen all around,"
Beatty said the Perseids meteors appear to come from Perseus, but they are really debris from Swift-Tuttle moving through the upper atmosphere at roughly 133,000 thousand miles per hour. He said the peak starts at around 9 p.m., with observers in a really dark location seeing anywhere from around one meteor per minute up to 100 per hour ideally.
WBUR and Sky & Telescope
For most people dealing with light pollution, Beatty said the rate is more realistic at one every other minute. That gives a practical reading for Boston-area viewers who are unlikely to have a dark-sky site but still want a fair shot at the peak.
He said the near-full lunar eclipse will be visible over Massachusetts from the later evening into the early morning, with the peak just after midnight. Beatty said, "The rest of the moon will be plunged into Earth's shadow," and added, "You might get some of that coppery color that total lunar eclipses are known for."
End of 2028
The lunar eclipse reaches about 96% coverage, leaving only a thin slice of the moon outside Earth's shadow. Beatty said the next almost total lunar eclipse will not happen again until the end of 2028, so Wednesday night is the closest chance for New Englanders to see three major celestial events in one stretch.
