At what lunar orbital node did the solar eclipse occur during the 2026 Perseid peak?

The solar eclipse during the 2026 Perseid peak occurred at the Moon’s descending orbital node.

A node is a point where the Moon’s tilted orbit crosses the plane of Earth’s orbit around the Sun. Solar eclipses can occur only when a new Moon is close enough to one of these nodes for the Sun, Moon, and Earth to align.

At the descending node, the Moon crosses the orbital plane moving from north to south. This orbital geometry is unrelated to the Perseid meteoroids, which are fragments from Comet Swift–Tuttle entering Earth’s atmosphere.

The eclipse and meteor shower happened in the same August period, creating an unusual combination for skywatchers. Safe solar viewing still required eclipse glasses outside totality, while meteor observing was done after nightfall.