August 12, 2026 will see the peak of the largest meteor shower of the year AND a total solar eclipse #space #Astronomy #Science #nasa

Tapping, grab a date, grab your friends, grab a snack, because next week, three space events are all happening on the same day, August 12th. The biggest meteor shower of the entire year, the Perseids, will be peaking. There will be 50 to 100 meteors every hour, and the Perseids are notorious for having fireballs, which are just insane shooting stars that look like explosions in the night sky. These are caused by bigger chunks of stuff hitting Earth's atmosphere, because what's happening is every August, Earth passes through the debris field of comet Swift Tuttle, and these chunks of comet hit our atmosphere at 37 miles per second. But that's not all, because August 12th is also a new moon, which means the sky will be extra dark for you to see the meteors, and that August 12th new moon is going to pass directly in front of the Sun, there will be a total solar eclipse. This is the path of totality, but it will be at least partially visible in this entire area, and whether it's partial or not, never look at the Sun or a solar eclipse without solar eclipse classes. Happy Star Gazing, and Sun Gazing! Star Gazing!