The sky over Montreal is pitch black in winter and a little lighter in summer—even at the darkest point of the night. This August, the stars transform Montreal’s sky into a cosmic ballet that should—yes, we hope—have a mystical quality.
Two eclipses, a meteor shower, and the full moon marking the peak of the year’s harvest are on the agenda.
AUGUST 12: PARTIAL SOLAR ECLIPSE
A solar eclipse is an astronomical phenomenon that can be seen with the naked eye—with protective glasses—created by the alignment of the Sun and the Moon. The Moon is closer, and it blocks the Sun’s rays for a short period of time, creating a sort of “night in broad daylight.”
During a partial solar eclipse, the Moon, the Sun, and the Earth are not perfectly aligned, but the Moon casts its “shadow” onto the Sun, which changes shape to look more like a fiery apple into which a god has taken a bite.
On Wednesday, August 12, the Moon will cover 18.3% of the Sun—it’s a small eclipse, but one that’s still visible and requires protective glasses. So let’s break out the BBQ, the corn on the cob, the plastic folding chairs, and the paper sunglasses, and use the eclipse as an excuse to have a family lunch or a picnic with our favorite coworkers.
The solar eclipse will last from 12:50 p.m. to 2:39 p.m., with the peak of the eclipse at 1:45 p.m. PROTECTIVE GLASSES ARE REQUIRED TO VIEW THE ECLIPSE.
AUGUST 12: PERSEID METEOR SHOWER
On the night of Wednesday, August 12, through Thursday, August 13, 2026, if the sky is clear and light pollution is low (let’s set a reminder right now: turn off the lights), we’ll be able to see 50 shooting stars per hour streak across the Montreal sky.
Every summer, Earth crosses the orbit of the tail of Comet Swift-Tuttle, and as a result, some of the meteors in its tail enter Earth’s atmosphere and burn up—and the spectacle of these “shooting stars” is quite exceptional. It’s said that for every shooting star, you can make a wish…
This “meteor shower” is the brightest and easiest to observe with the naked eye in mid-August in Quebec. This year, in Montreal, visibility will peak on the night of August 12–13, 2026.
AUGUST 28: STURGEON FULL MOON
The full moon in August is called the Sturgeon Moon in North America because of the giant sturgeon (fish) found in the Great Lakes and Lake Champlain. Indigenous peoples of North America fished for them in August, when they were most abundant in the cool waters of the lakes.
Among the Indigenous nations of North America, this full moon is called;
- Flying Up Moon / Moon of the Flying Birds (Cree)
- Corn Moon (Algonquin, Ojibwe)
- Harvest Moon (Dakota)
- Ricing Moon (Anishinaabe)
- Black Cherries Moon (Assiniboine)
- Mountain Shadows Moon / Moon of the Mountain Shadows (Tlingit)
AUGUST 28: PARTIAL LUNAR ECLIPSE
The full moon will disappear for one night, between August 27 and 28, 2026, during a 93% partial eclipse. If possible, we’d love to be camping, telling stories around the campfire, when it happens.
This alignment is rare, and this time only 93% of the Moon will be in shadow. The night won’t be completely dark—a very thin crescent of the Moon will remain visible throughout the six hours of the partial eclipse.
ECLIPSE TIMES (via Space for Life)
- 9:23 p.m.: start of the partial phase (the Moon enters the penumbra)
- 10:33 p.m.: Start of the eclipse caused by the Earth’s shadow
- 12:00 a.m.: Maximum of the eclipse (the Moon at the peak of the shadow), with 93% of its diameter covered by the Earth’s shadow
- 1:51 a.m.: The Moon is about to leave the Earth’s shadow
- 3:01 a.m.: end of the eclipse
This will be the last lunar eclipse of 2026—and the next partial lunar eclipse will be in January 2028.
