eta-Aquariids 2027
The peak falls on Thursday 6 May 2027 at 15:19 UTC, with the Moon 0% lit — a dark sky — the Moon is close to new and takes almost nothing away.
- Peak instant
- Moon at peak
- 0% lit, new Moon
- Active
- 18 April 2027 – 27 May 2027
- Zenithal hourly rate
- 50
- Radiant declination
- −0.5°
- Rank for Moon in 2027
- 1 of 12
What 2027 actually offers
Of the twelve showers on this site, none peaks under a darker Moon in 2027 than this one. If you are picking a single night in 2027 on Moon alone, this is it. Moonlight does not remove meteors, it removes the faint ones: with a population index of 2.4, every magnitude of extra sky brightness divides the count you see by 2.4.
The radiant passes overhead at 0.5°S and never rises at all north of 89.5°N. That geometry does not change from year to year, so if this shower does not work from your latitude, no amount of moonless sky will fix it — check the latitude table before making plans around the date.
What is not knowable this far out is cloud. Numerical forecasts are useful inside about three days and steadily less so beyond that, which is why the verdict for a specific night is computed on the night from your own coordinates rather than published in advance.
The Moon across the whole activity window
- full Moon 20 April 2027 22:27 UTC
- last quarter 28 April 2027 20:18 UTC
- new Moon 6 May 2027 10:59 UTC
- first quarter 13 May 2027 04:44 UTC
- full Moon 20 May 2027 10:59 UTC
The week around the peak
Moon illumination on each date at 00:00 UTC. Rate falls away either side of the peak, so a much darker sky two nights out is only worth taking when the activity window is broad — this one runs 19 April – 27 May.
| Date | Weekday | Moon lit | Phase |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 May 2027 | Monday | 14% | waning crescent |
| 4 May 2027 | Tuesday | 7% | waning crescent |
| 5 May 2027 | Wednesday | 3% | new Moon |
| 6 May 2027 peak | Thursday | 0% | new Moon |
| 7 May 2027 | Friday | 1% | new Moon |
| 8 May 2027 | Saturday | 3% | new Moon |
| 9 May 2027 | Sunday | 9% | waxing crescent |
Get reminded before the 2027 peak
One email seven days before a peak so you can keep the night free, and one on the evening itself with the verdict for your location. If your sky is going to be hopeless that night, the second email tells you the next good night instead of pretending otherwise.