Anywhere in France this summer, all you’ll need to do is find a dark spot and look up to witness one of the year’s greatest astronomical spectacles. The Perseids will reach their peak on the night of Wednesday, August 12, through Thursday, August 13, 2026. This year, the Moon will be completely absent from the night sky: nearly ideal conditions for spotting shooting stars, provided the clouds don’t spoil the evening.
When is the best time to watch the 2026 Perseids from France?
The Perseids are active from July 17 to August 24, but their peak is expected on August 13, between 2:00 a.m. and 4:00 a.m. UTC, or between 4:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m. in mainland France. The second half of the night will therefore be the most interesting, when the constellation Perseus is higher in the northeastern sky.
Interesting fact: the new moon will occur on August 12 around 7 p.m. Paris time, just a few hours before the peak. Unlike some years when its light obscures the fainter meteors, no bright crescent moon will be there to brighten the sky this time. NASA, in fact, considers the Perseids to be one of the most promising astronomical events of 2026. Under perfect conditions, the International Meteor Organization predicts a theoretical rate of up to 100 meteors per hour.
To observe the phenomenon, no telescope is necessary: it’s best to lie down, let your eyes adjust to the darkness for about 20 minutes, and scan a wide swath of the sky rather than focusing solely on Perseus. The first shooting stars may appear as early as 10 p.m., but their frequency generally increases after midnight and continues until dawn.
Where do the Perseid meteors come from?
Despite their name, the Perseids do not actually originate from the constellation Perseus. The constellation simply marks the point from which their trajectories appear to radiate. The meteors are actually tiny fragments left behind in space by Comet Swift-Tuttle.
The Perseids are known for being fast, bright, and sometimes followed by lingering trails. They can also produce fireballs, which are brighter than stars and capable of briefly illuminating a large portion of the sky.
Swift-Tuttle returns to the vicinity of the Sun only once every 133 years. The comet has therefore not been observed since 1992, but the dust it left behind continues to streak across Earth’s sky every August.