NASA Says the Year’s Best Meteor Shower Peaks Aug. 12 with 100 Shooting Stars an Hour

The same night the Perseids hit their peak, there’s a solar eclipse, a six-planet lineup, and a new moon dark enough to see all of it. Aug. 12 is the busiest sky of the year.

Four separate celestial events land on a single day this month. On Aug. 12, six planets align across the pre-dawn sky, a solar eclipse crosses over in the afternoon, a new moon arrives at night, and the Perseid meteor shower peaks from that evening into the morning of Aug. 13.

NASA calls the Perseids the best meteor shower of the year, and the timing helps: the new moon keeps the sky “ideally dark,” so nothing washes out the shooting stars.

The total solar eclipse will only be visible from Greenland, Iceland, Spain, Russia and parts of Portugal. Two dozen U.S. states, from Alaska to Virginia, can catch a partial eclipse with eclipse glasses, when the sun looks like a cookie with a bite taken out of it.

The morning lineup runs Jupiter, Mercury, Mars, Uranus, Saturn and Neptune. Mars and Saturn are easy to spot, Uranus needs binoculars, and Neptune needs a telescope, according to Star Walk.

To catch any of it, experts say find a dark spot away from light pollution, give your eyes 20 to 30 minutes to adjust, and keep off your phone.