After a year featuring a brilliant green comet, a rare eclipse at sunrise, perfect views of the planets, a traveler from deep space, and spooky northern lights, you might be ready for the next amazing sight in the sky. Fortunately, 2026 is set to deliver a fantastic show, featuring shining planets, the best conditions for shooting stars, unique lunar events, and a total eclipse of the sun.
Keep your eyes up this year to catch these cosmic wonders, and be sure to save the dates, as these are bound to be the top stargazing moments of the year. If you don want to get the best seats, we will also tell from where you can see best each astronomical phenomenon.
Planetary alignment
To get a unique look at the solar system, check the sky in late February to catch six planets lining up, an event often called a planet parade. From our point of view on Earth, Mercury, Venus, Saturn, Jupiter, Uranus, and Neptune will all be grouped in the same area. You will find Mercury, Venus, and Saturn bunching up in the southern sky, while Jupiter will glow clearly close to the moon.
Just keep in mind that Uranus and Neptune are too dim to see with just your eyes (hehe), so you will need binoculars or a telescope to spot them. The next chance to see all seven other planets at the same time—called a full planetary alignment—won’t happen until February 3, 2034.
The Atacama Desert (Chile) will be one of the least light-polluted point on Earth from which to contemplate it.
March’s Blood Moon
Even if a lot of people in North America are sleeping when it starts, the moon will turn a reddish-orange color early on March 3 during an amazing total lunar eclipse. This happens because the sun, Earth, and moon line up exactly right while the moon is full. That arrangement forces sunlight to travel through our atmosphere before reflecting off the moon, which filters out the blue and purple light.
Only the red colors make it through to the lunar surface, lighting it up with a spooky, rusty glow. That visual effect is exactly why a total lunar eclipse is often called a Blood Moon (it sounds like a Twilight book, right?).
Since this eclipse is centered over the Pacific Ocean, the red phase will be best seen from Hawaii, USA.
August’s solar eclipse
On August 12, the moon is going to throw its deepest shadow over Earth, something that hasn’t happened since April 2024. The zone of total darkness will sweep through areas of Russia, Greenland, Iceland, Portugal, and Spain—specially in Castilla y León, Spain.
Many places in Europe are going to witness an almost total eclipse, while people in parts of Africa, Asia, and North America will catch a partial one. Enthusiasts are planning trips from all over the globe to be there, and live broadcasts will cover the show for everyone else.
If you are watching it live, remember to grab your eclipse glasses, because staring at the sun without the right protection can hurt your vision. The brief moment of total darkness is the only safe time to remove your glasses and see the sun’s corona directly.
The brightest Venus of the skies in late summer
Venus is already the brightest planet we see, but on September 18 it will put on an even better show by hitting its peak brilliance in the evening sky for the whole year. In a twist that differs from the moon, Venus actually shines the most intensely when it looks like a crescent.
Whenever Venus is “full,” meaning we see its whole lit-up face, it is actually sitting behind the sun from where we stand and is much farther away. However, when it is a crescent, it is physically much closer to Earth, which makes it appear a lot brighter.
While it will be possible to see Venus from many places, astronomy experts are looking forward to the landscape a bright Venus will be over the ocean in Las Palmas, Canary Islands.
Meteors for the rest of 2026
As fall turns into winter, a wave of annual meteor showers arrives, providing lots of opportunities to see a stunning shooting star. This year, the Orionid shower peaks on the nights of October 21 and 22, delivering around 20 meteors per hour in dark conditions that look like they are coming from Orion the Hunter. Created by dust trails from the famous Halley’s Comet, these meteors blaze through our atmosphere at a speed of 41 miles per second.
The best place to watch this meteor showers will be Monument Valley, in the Arizona/Utah border.