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An incredible shower of shooting stars will light up Lyon's sky in August

undefined undefined 6 août 2026 undefined 19h00

The Editor

Image fictive générée avec l'IA

August 12th is shaping up to be one of the most beautiful celestial evenings of the year. A solar eclipse at sunset, followed a few hours later by the peak of the Perseids, summer's most famous meteor shower. Get ready to feast your eyes!

Get your eyes ready (and your wish list too). This year, the sky has cooked up an XXL program for us. On Wednesday, August 12, a rare phenomenon will kick off the festivities: a solar eclipse will be visible at the end of the day, around 8 p.m. depending on where you're observing from. Then, once night falls, it's showtime for the Perseids, with peak activity expected during the night of August 12 to 13. In other words? An absolutely exceptional evening and night of stargazing.


What are the Perseids?

Are shooting stars actually real stars? Not really. In fact, behind the Perseids are tiny dust particles from an asteroid or comet, in this case comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle. Every summer, Earth passes through this cosmic swarm and these fragments burn up in our atmosphere at incredible speed, drawing long trails of light

shining in the sky. At peak time, it will be possible to observe up to one hundred shooting stars per hour. That's enough to blast through your annual wish quota ! 

And contrary to popular belief, they're not all white. Some shine in blue, others in green, yellow, or even red. This festival of colors is explained by the chemical composition unique to each meteor, but also by the reactions triggered as they pass through Earth's atmosphere. The result: a truly spectacular show

charming, free and honestly hard to beat.


Lyon Under the Stars

The best part of this story ? The astronomical calendar is perfectly aligned. The solar eclipse on August 12th also corresponds with a new Moon. Which means that once night falls, our satellite won't bathe the sky in its light. The darker the sky, the more visible the shooting stars become. So to enjoy the show, skip those overly lit balconies or rooftops : light pollution is the number one enemy of the Perseids. It's better to treat yourself to a little nighttime adventure in peaceful, green spots, or even outside the city, out in the countryside. The best time to look up ? The second half of the night, gazing toward the north-northeast.