The night sky in July 2027
Moon phases, meteor showers, planets and the best nights to look up from the UK in July 2027. Times are UK clock time (BST) for central England.
Best nights to watch
- Southern Delta Aquariids peak, night of 30–31 July: Poor. The Moon is 9 per cent lit and rises at 02:11.
- Alpha Capricornids peak, night of 30–31 July: Fair. The Moon is 9 per cent lit and rises at 02:11.
- Moon-free dark skies on the nights from 1 to 12 July: the best nights this month for faint shooting stars, the Milky Way and deep-sky objects.
- Moon-free dark skies on the nights from 30 to 31 July: the best nights this month for faint shooting stars, the Milky Way and deep-sky objects.
Around midsummer the Sun never sinks far enough below the horizon for a fully dark sky in central England. On 25 nights this month, "dark" here means the deepest twilight of the night.
The Moon
Each day shows the Moon's shape in the evening. Shaded days start the best Moon-free dark nights.
Meteor showers
Southern Delta Aquariids
Poor from the UKPeak: night of 30–31 July (a broad maximum around Fri 30 Jul). Zenithal hourly rate: about 25 (what one observer would see in an hour under a perfect sky with the radiant overhead; expect fewer). Radiant: Aquarius (near the star Delta Aquarii). Parent: Uncertain; probably linked to Comet 96P/Machholz.
The Moon is 9 per cent lit and rises at 02:11. Moonlight drowns all but the brightest meteors this year, so watch on the nights either side if the Moon is less bright then, or wait for next year.
Alpha Capricornids
Fair from the UKPeak: night of 30–31 July (a broad maximum around Fri 30 Jul). Zenithal hourly rate: about 5 (what one observer would see in an hour under a perfect sky with the radiant overhead; expect fewer). Radiant: Capricornus. Parent: Comet 169P/NEAT.
The Moon is 9 per cent lit and rises at 02:11. The best watching is from about 23:45 to 02:35, when the sky is dark, the radiant is well up and the Moon is out of the way.
Smaller showers peaking this month: July Pegasids (around 10–11 July, a few an hour at best); July Gamma Draconids (around 28 July, a few an hour at best); Piscis Austrinids (around 28 July, a few an hour at best).
Also active: Perseids (peak around 12–13 August).
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
- Venus is too close to the Sun to see this month.
- Mars
- In the evening sky after sunset, low in the west, until about 23:05. Brightness: magnitude 1.2.
- Jupiter
- Jupiter is too close to the Sun to see this month.
- Saturn
- In the morning sky before dawn, low in the south-east, from about 01:15 until the sky gets too bright. Brightness: magnitude 1.0.
Dates for your diary
- Thursday 8 July, evening: The Moon near Mars. The crescent Moon (30 per cent lit) is about 6° from Mars at about 22:30. A pairing like this is a good way to find a planet for the first time.
- Friday 16 July: Mercury at greatest western elongation. Mercury is 21° from the Sun, as far as it gets on this swing, and in the morning sky before sunrise. Mercury is always low and hard to spot from the UK; look for it in a clear sky low in the east, 30 to 45 minutes before sunrise.
- Sunday 18 July: Penumbral eclipse of the Moon. A very slight penumbral eclipse that happens while the Moon is below the horizon from the UK.
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.