Moon and sun will headline 2026 stargazing and NASA missions
The moon and the sun will shape next year’s skywatching calendar, with a packed sequence of eclipses, supermoons and planet-viewing opportunities—while NASA and other space companies and agencies plan new lunar targets. The lineup begins with the moon’s visibility advantages, then shifts to major eclipse days separated across the year, and ends with further fireworks in the form of additional supermoons and aurora potential driven by solar activity.
On the mission side, NASA is planning a new lunar “moonshot” effort, with commander Reid Wiseman saying there is a good chance his crew will be the first astronauts to look at large swaths of the moon’s far side that Apollo missed. The plan calls for the three Americans and one Canadian to launch early in 2026, zip past the moon, swing around behind it, and then head back to Earth to complete a roughly 10-day mission.
The mission is designed without a moonwalk, and the article says no stopping on the lunar surface is planned, with footprints left instead by the next Artemis crew in NASA’s broader lunar exploration program. NASA is also counting on observations from the far-side passes to support work by geologists and other experts weighing future landing sites.
The lunar spotlight is also shared with robotic missions aimed at 2026. The report says China is targeting the moon’s south polar region, sending both a rover and a “hopper” to reach permanently shadowed craters in search of ice. In addition, Astrobotic Technology and Intuitive Machines are aiming for 2026 landings with scientific gear, and Firefly Aerospace—described as the only private company to have nailed a lunar landing—will target the moon’s far side in 2026.
Commercial development plans appear in the report as well, including a Blue Origin prototype for NASA’s astronauts. It says Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is looking to have Blue Origin launch a prototype of its lunar lander for NASA’s missions early in 2026; the “Blue Moon” demo would be about 26 feet (8 meters) tall, while the version for crew would be almost double that.
Eclipses will take center stage in the sky calendar, with the report describing a spread of events from near the start of the year through August. It says a ring-of-fire solar eclipse is scheduled for Feb. 17 in Antarctica, with only a few research stations in the best viewing position and partial viewing possible across South Africa and parts of southern Chile and Argentina. It adds that a total lunar eclipse would follow two weeks later in late February, while partial lunar eclipse viewing would close out the action at the end of August, and a total solar eclipse is set for Aug. 12 across the Arctic and beyond.
The report describes the Aug. 12 total solar eclipse as crossing Greenland, Iceland and Spain, with totality lasting two minutes and 18 seconds as the moon moves directly between Earth and the sun. It also notes that the total solar eclipse in 2027 is expected to last longer—6 1/2 minutes of totality—and cover more countries, but the 2026 story for viewers remains the earlier Aug. 12 path and duration.
Beyond eclipses, the calendar stretches into planetary viewing and a run of supermoons. The report says six of the eight planets will be visible around Feb. 28 in a lineup that pairs a nearly full moon with Jupiter, while Uranus and Neptune would require binoculars or telescopes. It says Mercury, Venus, Jupiter and Saturn should be visible to the naked eye shortly after sunset, weather permitting, though Mercury and Venus would sit low on the horizon, and Mars would be the lone no-show until it joins another six-planet parade in August, with Venus the remaining holdout.
Supermoons will arrive three times in 2026, the report says, with the first in January coinciding with a meteor shower even though moonlight would likely obscure the dimmer fireballs. It also places the second supermoon on Nov. 24 and identifies the third as occurring the night of Dec. 23 into Dec. 24, describing that Christmas Eve supermoon as the year’s closest and stating it would pass within 221,668 miles (356,740 kilometers) of Earth.
Solar activity could add another layer to 2026’s sky appeal through space weather and auroras. The report says the sun is expected to churn out more eruptions that could lead to geomagnetic storms and auroras, even as solar action begins to ease because the 11-year solar cycle is on the downslide. It adds that space weather forecasters are expecting better forecasting help from observatory data from a spacecraft launched in the fall, and it quotes Rob Steenburgh of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration as saying 2026 will be an exciting year for space weather enthusiasts because spacecraft data will help scientists “better understand our nearest star and forecast its impacts.”
The report also points to continued curiosity beyond Earth’s immediate neighborhood, including interstellar visitors. It says 3I/Atlas, recently discovered as an interstellar comet, is fading after swinging past Earth in December and that scientists expect more as they improve technology and widen their search. It quotes NASA’s Paul Chodas, who has been on the lookout since the 1980s, saying, “I can’t believe it’s taken this long to find three,” and adds that he expects that “the chance of catching another interstellar visitor will increase.”
For viewers and readers, the combined picture in 2026 is a year where the moon and sun dominate twice—through planned observing opportunities from supermoons to eclipses, and through active exploration that will use new lunar missions to follow up on questions left by Apollo and shaped by future landing planning.