What backyard astronomers can expect in 2026

If you are among the many rural readers of this column you are probably a backyard astronomer of sorts. You might find yourself outdoors on a clear night marveling at the countless stars in the heavens. There’s something innate, something primeval, about our love affair with the nighttime sky -- the universe is fascinating, awe-inspiring, and relaxing.

To help you get the most out of your skywatching in 2026, here’s a look at some of the nighttime sights (and one daytime sight) on tap for the year.

Lunar eclipses

Early in the morning of March 3^rd there will be a total lunar eclipse. The timing is such that if you are getting yourself ready for work you will see some of the progression. It will begin just before 4:00 a.m. and reach full eclipse around 6:30 a.m. The moon sets that morning just before 7:00 which means the peak will be impossible to appreciate because the moon will be so low on the horizon during the 6:00 hour (and the sun will be rising at 6:48). Your best time to experience as much of a reddish moon as you can will be 5:30 to 5:45.

While it won’t be a total eclipse of the moon, you’ll have a far better viewing experience of a partial eclipse on the night of August 27^th. It begins around 9:20 PM, the moon starts to become red about an hour later, and the eclipse reaches its peak a dozen minutes after midnight. Only a tiny sliver of the moon will remain visible. The kids are on summer vacation that week, so it’s a good time to let them stay up late and appreciate some celestial magic. 

Solar eclipse

A total solar eclipse, much like that we experienced in 2024, will grace Greenland, Iceland, Portugal, and Spain. We will have a chance to see a little of it on August 12^th around 1:40 PM. From our vantage point in Western New York, the moon will cover about 10% of the sun’s surface.

Do not look at the eclipse with naked eyes. If you want to see it, purchase a pair of eclipse glasses as you did in 2024. “Purchase” is the key word – you are encouraged to buy new glasses and not use the ones you may have had laying around since our total eclipse. Two years of constant exposure to light can breakdown the thin film that makes up the lens, putting your eyes at risk.

Northern Lights

The aurora borealis or northern lights are more abundant when the sun is covered with sunspots and emitting all sorts of flares and other solar energy. From the mid-2010s and through the pandemic years, the sun wasn’t too eventful as it was at the bottom of the 11-year sunspot cycle — and that past cycle was a dud to begin with. The current solar cycle is well underway and it has been surprising astronomers with its liveliness.

2024 and 2025 were banner years for the northern lights as they were very visible a few times – and thrice quite impressively -- in Western New York. Expect more of the same in the new year as the solar cycle peaked in late-2024 and we are still at high levels of activity on the downslope. If I had to guess, locals will get to see them quite well on three occasions in 2026. 

If you want to know when you have a chance, a great tool is the aurora oval (updated every few minutes) on the left side toolbar of the website SpaceWeather.com. If the green or red hue takes over or comes close to the US-Canada border on that map, it’s time to get outside and look. You don’t ever want to miss the northern lights. They are incredible and you have only so many good solar cycles in your lifetime.

The best meteor showers

The Persieds meteor shower never ceases to amaze with really bright meteors. 2016 was an outburst year, and I saw nearly 100 shooting stars over an hour and a half period on the peak night. While 2026’s shower won’t reach such numbers, the Perseids is always a good show. Even during lean years, you can see 30 to 60 per hour, some of them impressive fireballs, the sight of which will be seared in your memory forever.

It will be an absolutely perfect year to watch this shower because the new moon (which you could call “no moon”) is on August 12^th and the Perseids reach their peak on the 12^th into the 13^th. Look towards the constellation Perseus in the hours after midnight to see them in their full beauty.

December’s Geminids shower, which is a consistent and totally underrated meteor shower (probably because your average person doesn’t like sitting outside in cold weather), will be a fine one to watch 2026 because it will be just 6 days past the new moon when the shower peaks on December 13^th into the 14^th. Don’t overlook it as skywatchers love this show for its sometimes colorful meteors. 

New moons

If you are serious about stargazing, you will, as I do, mark your calendar every date on which there is a new moon, thus no moonlight affecting your skywatching experience. You will have full visibility of the stars, the Milky Way, meteors and more. You typically have perfect dark sky viewing for four days on either side of the new moon.

New moons will occur on: January 18, February 17, March 18, April 17, May 16, June 14, July 14, August 12, September 10, October 10, November 9, and December 8.