Skywatchers have two reasons to look up Wednesday, with a solar eclipse during the day followed by one of the best meteor showers of the year overnight.
First up is the Aug. 12 solar eclipse. While parts of Greenland, Iceland and northern Spain will experience a total eclipse, northeast Ohio is well outside the path of totality. We’ll still get a partial solar eclipse, meaning the moon will cover a small portion of the sun. NASA confirms that parts of North America will see the eclipse only partially.
Around the Cleveland area, the partial eclipse will be visible Wednesday afternoon, weather permitting, beginning at 1:07 and peaking at 1:40 p.m. Eclipse glasses are still a must if you’ll be looking directly at the sun.
Then, once the sun goes down, the sky show continues.
The Perseid meteor shower peaks Wednesday night into early Thursday morning, Aug. 12-13. NASA calls the Perseids one of the brightest and most popular meteor showers of the year, and 2026 brings especially good viewing conditions.
For the best chance of spotting shooting stars in northeast Ohio, get away from city lights, give your eyes time to adjust to the darkness and simply look up, no telescope required, after midnight.
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