The sizzling August heat won’t be the only thing making you see stars this summer. The Perseid meteor showers (or Perseids) are going to light up Abu Dhabi skies on August 12 and 13. These meteor showers generally run from late July to mid August and this particular one’s better than ever before! The new moon on August 12 will make the Perseids meteors brighter than ever. Bursts of 100 meteors per hour will rain down from the heavens. If you’ve got some wishes to make, now is the time. Since meteor activity peaks around a gibbous moon, clear, inky black skies are tough to come by, but these meteor showers are visible to the naked eye. No binoculars or telescopes are required.
Where you can see the 2026 Perseids in Abu Dhabi
The Perseid Meteor Shower will peak in Abu Dhabi overnight on August 12 to 13. The best viewing times are between 3am and 6am according to reports. During this window, the radiant constellation rises high enough above the horizon for optimal visibility. Although, it has been challenging to view the Perseids in Abu Dhabi due to frequent cloud cover and light pollution.
Lucky for us, the 2026 Perseids will happen at the exact same time as a new moon on August 12. The moon enters its New Moon phase, leaving the visible lunar disk virtually invisible at a mere 0.1% illumination. Certainly, this boosts your chances of spotting shooting stars and fireballs.
You’ll just have to make sure you pick a dark sky site – places with zero to little light pollution. Luckily, the UAE is blessed with vast swathes of deserts ideal for stargazing gazing such as the Al Awir desert. Another good stargazing spot is Hatta. A few hour drive from Abu Dhabi, not only is this small town one of the world’s most beautiful, but it also has numerous camping spots to stargaze at leisure without being too far away from civilisation.
What are the Perseid meteor shower?
The Perseids are space debris from the comet Swift-Tuttle – the largest object to pass through Earth’s orbit. Every year, when the Earth zooms through this comet’s orbit, leftover dust particles and broken asteroid bits (rocks) fall through our atmosphere and burn into glowing streaks of fire. In fact, the Perseid meteor showers are famous for fireballs – explosions larger than the average meteor shower.
Because of how plentiful they are, NASA actually calls the Perseids ‘the best meteor showers’. Although this spectacular cosmic event is active every year from July to September, it only reaches maximum activity in mid-August. As these meteors appear to burst from the same point in the sky as the constellation Perseus (the Greek hero who defeated Medusa), they’re named Perseids.
