The night sky in January 2027
Moon phases, meteor showers, planets and the best nights to look up from the UK in January 2027. Times are UK clock time (GMT) for central England.
Best nights to watch
- Quadrantids peak, night of 3–4 January: Good. The Moon is 13 per cent lit and rises at 05:58.
- Moon-free dark skies on the nights from 1 to 12 January: the best nights this month for faint shooting stars, the Milky Way and deep-sky objects.
- Moon-free dark skies on the nights from 29 to 31 January: the best nights this month for faint shooting stars, the Milky Way and deep-sky objects.
The Moon
Each day shows the Moon's shape in the evening. Shaded days start the best Moon-free dark nights.
Meteor showers
Quadrantids
Good from the UKPeak: night of 3–4 January (maximum expected around 03:00 GMT on Mon 4 Jan). Zenithal hourly rate: about 80 (variable; roughly 60 to 200) (what one observer would see in an hour under a perfect sky with the radiant overhead; expect fewer). Radiant: Boötes (between the end of the Plough's handle and the head of Draco). Parent: Asteroid 2003 EH1 (probably a dormant or extinct comet).
The Moon is 13 per cent lit and rises at 05:58. The best watching is from about 00:55 to 06:55, when the sky is dark, the radiant is well up and the Moon is out of the way.
Smaller showers peaking this month: Gamma Ursae Minorids (around 18–20 January, a few an hour at best).
On any dark night you can also see a few sporadic meteors an hour, which belong to no shower. Rates are usually higher after midnight, when your side of Earth faces the direction it is travelling.
Planets
For the middle of the month. Magnitude measures brightness: the lower the number, the brighter, and anything brighter than about 2 is easy to see from a town.
- Mercury
- Mercury is too close to the Sun to see this month.
- Venus
- In the morning sky before dawn, low in the south-east, from about 05:35 until the sky gets too bright. Brightness: magnitude −4.3.
- Mars
- Comes into view in the east at about 21:05 and stays up for the rest of the night, highest in the south at about 03:25. Brightness: magnitude −0.5.
- Jupiter
- Comes into view in the east at about 19:45 and stays up for the rest of the night, highest in the south at about 02:15. Brightness: magnitude −2.3.
- Saturn
- Visible from dusk, starting in the south, until it sinks low at about 22:35. Brightness: magnitude 1.0.
Dates for your diary
- Sunday 3 January: Venus at greatest western elongation. Venus is 47° from the Sun, as far as it gets on this swing, and in the morning sky before sunrise.
- Saturday 23 January, around midnight: The Moon near Jupiter. The Full Moon (97 per cent lit) is about 1° from Jupiter at about 23:20. A pairing like this is a good way to find a planet for the first time.
- Sunday 24 January, evening: The Moon near Mars. The gibbous Moon (92 per cent lit) is about 6° from Mars at about 22:50. A pairing like this is a good way to find a planet for the first time.
Find a safe spot away from street lights, wrap up warmly and lie back so you can see a wide sweep of sky. Give your eyes 20 minutes to adjust and keep phone screens dim. No telescope is needed for meteors. Children should always watch with an adult. Never look at the Sun.
Read about every meteor shower, what a radiant and the zenithal hourly rate mean, and how moonlight hides faint meteors. Children can start with how to watch for shooting stars.