Perseid meteor shower peak begins tonight after solar eclipse
The Perseids meteor shower hits its absolute annual peak over the Netherlands this evening after the solar eclipse. Because 2026 features a New Moon, the skies will be exceptionally dark, offering perfect moonless conditions to see even the faintest shooting stars
The best window is between 03:00 a.m and 05:00 a.m. on Thursday morning. Precisely at 03:45 a.m, the "radiant,” the origin point of the stars, sits high in the sky. At this exact time, you can expect to see between 40 and 65 meteors per hour, averaging one falling star every single minute. Stargazing wraps up around 5:30 a.m. as the morning dawn begins to lighten the sky.
The weather is highly cooperative. Thanks to a regional summer heatwave lingering over the country, temperatures tonight will remain very comfortable. Temps will be around 22°C in the north and even warmer further south. Weeronline and Buienradar predict widely clear skies across most of the Netherlands tonight, meaning obstruction from clouds will be minimal.
Anyone wishing to see the meteors has to look toward the East-Northeast sky, where the constellation Perseus sits. However, meteors can flash anywhere across the entire sky, so keep your gaze wide.
Amsterdam and other major Randstad cities will hide many of the fainter streaks due to artificial light. For the best show, it is best to head to darker pockets like the Wadden Islands, the Veluwe, the Afsluitdijk, or local coastal beaches and provincial parks.
AmsterdamWorld advises people not to use binoculars or telescopes, as they narrow your field of view. The naked eye is best. People are also advised to avoid looking at their phone screen. It takes your eyes about 20 to 30 minutes to fully adjust to the dark to pick up the lighter, glowing trails.
The Perseids are not actually stars falling. They are a stream of ancient dust and rocky debris left behind by the massive Comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle. As Earth passes through this dust cloud every August, the particles slam into our upper atmosphere at a staggering 59 kilometers per second. The friction compresses and heats the air, creating the brilliant, fast-moving streaks and colorful fireballs you see from the ground, according to Scientias.