When are the meteor showers in 2027?

The best-placed of the big three showers in 2027 is the Quadrantids: they peak on the night of January 3 to 4 with the moon 12% lit. The Perseids peak on the night of August 12 to 13 under a 87% moon that sets around 01:30 at 40° N, which leaves about 2 h of dark sky before dawn. The Geminids peak on December 14 at full moon, and the Lyrids, Orionids and Leonids also fall in strong moonlight. South of the equator the Eta Aquariids (new moon) and the Southern Delta Aquariids (9% moon) have the darkest peak nights.

Peaks from the International Meteor Organization's 2027 calendar. Moon, darkness and radiant heights are calculated for three latitudes; they are geometry, not a weather forecast.

The 2027 meteor shower calendar at a glance

ZHR: meteors an hour one observer would see with the radiant overhead under a sky where stars of magnitude 6.5 are visible. The last column lists the latitudes where the peak night has at least an hour of full darkness with the moon down and the radiant 10° or more up.

The ten major showers of 2027, night by night

For each peak night at 50° N, 40° N and 35° S. Times are local solar time (on daylight saving time, add about an hour). Meteor counts are for the best moment, under a Bortle 3 and a Bortle 7 sky.

Quadrantids: night of January 3 to 4

Active December 28 to January 12 · ZHR 80 · 41 km/s · radiant in Boötes · moon 12% lit, waning

The peak rate varies from year to year, from about 60 to 200. The peak is short: rates are high for only a few hours.

Lyrids: night of April 22 to 23

Active April 14 to 30 · ZHR 18 · 49 km/s · radiant in Lyra · moon 95% lit, waning

Eta Aquariids: night of May 5 to 6

Active April 19 to May 28 · ZHR 50 · 66 km/s · radiant in Aquarius · new moon

The radiant rises only a few hours before dawn, so the shower is seen in the last dark hours. The peak is broad: the nights before and after give similar rates.

Southern Delta Aquariids: night of July 30 to 31

Active July 12 to August 23 · ZHR 25 · 41 km/s · radiant in Aquarius · moon 9% lit, waning

Rates stay near the peak for about two days.

Perseids: night of August 12 to 13

Active July 17 to August 24 · ZHR 110 · 59 km/s · radiant in Perseus · moon 87% lit, waxing

In 2027 the Earth passes a part of the stream that Jupiter has pulled closer, which may lift the rate by 10 to 20 percent (Maslov).

Draconids: night of October 8 to 9

Active October 6 to 10 · ZHR 5 · 20 km/s · radiant in Draco · moon 67% lit, waxing

Usually weak, with rare outbursts. The radiant is highest in the evening.

Orionids: night of October 21 to 22

Active October 2 to November 7 · ZHR 20 · 66 km/s · radiant in Orion · moon 58% lit, waning

The peak is broad, about a day.

Leonids: night of November 17 to 18

Active November 6 to 30 · ZHR 15 · 71 km/s · radiant in Leo · moon 80% lit, waning

With the parent comet near, the rate may rise to 40 or 50 an hour around November 17, 22:00 UTC (Maslov).

Geminids: night of December 14 to 15

Active December 4 to 20 · ZHR 150 · 35 km/s · radiant in Gemini · moon 98% lit, waning

The radiant is up most of the night, so the Geminids are the one major shower worth watching from the evening on.

Ursids: night of December 22 to 23

Active December 17 to 26 · ZHR 10 · 33 km/s · radiant in Ursa Minor · moon 21% lit, waning

The radiant is near the pole star and never sets north of about 14 degrees north.

How many meteors does a dark sky add?

A meteor shower's rate depends on how faint a star you can see. In a Bortle 7 suburb, the faintest stars are about magnitude 5.0; under a Bortle 3 sky, 6.5 or fainter. Each magnitude lost cuts the count by the shower's population index r (2.1 to 2.8 for these showers), so the 1.5 magnitudes between the two skies cost 3.3 times fewer Perseids (r 2.2) and 4.2 times fewer Geminids (r 2.6). Moonlight works the same way: a bright moon turns a dark site into a suburb for as long as it is up.

The rate also falls with the radiant's height: at 10° up it is 17% of the overhead rate, at 30° half, at 60° 87%. That is why the Eta Aquariids give about 33 an hour at 35° S and about 13 at 40° N on the same night.

Where to find a dark sky for the 2027 showers

Every place page on Yozora Atlas shows how dark its sky is and the darkest spots within 150 km you can drive to. Use Near me on the home page for the nearest places, or the parks list filtered to Bortle 1 to 3. The Bortle scale page explains the classes.

How the 2027 shower numbers are calculated

Peak dates and times, ZHR, radiant positions, speeds and population index come from the IMO 2027 Meteor Shower Calendar, edited by Jürgen Rendtel. Where it gives a date without an hour (Southern Delta Aquariids, Orionids), the peak night is the night before that date. The moon's phase is its share of the disc lit at the peak moment. For each latitude the night is stepped through in 10-minute steps at the Greenwich meridian: full darkness means the sun 18° or more below the horizon, the moon counts as up when its center is above the horizon, and the best moment is the radiant's highest point while it is dark and the moon down. The meteors an hour are the ZHR times the sine of the radiant's height, divided by r for every magnitude the sky falls short of 6.5. They assume a clear sky, one observer and an open view in every direction; most people count fewer.

Sources

Checked as of October 25, 2026.

• International Meteor Organization: 2027 Meteor Shower Calendar (IMO INFO(3-26), J. Rendtel, ed.), Table 5 and shower notes.
• J. E. Bortle, "Introducing the Bortle Dark-Sky Scale," Sky & Telescope, February 2001: limiting magnitudes per class.