The night sky in September 2027
Moon phases, meteor showers, planets and the best nights to look up from the UK in September 2027. Times are UK clock time (BST) for central England.
Best nights to watch
- Moon-free dark skies on the nights from 1 to 8 September: the best nights this month for faint shooting stars, the Milky Way and deep-sky objects.
- Moon-free dark skies on the nights from 26 to 30 September: 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
No major shower peaks this month.
Smaller showers peaking this month: September Epsilon Perseids (around 9 September, a few an hour at best); September Lyncids (around 13 September, 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
- Venus is too close to the Sun to see this month.
- Mars
- Mars is too close to the Sun to see this month.
- Jupiter
- Jupiter is too close to the Sun to see this month.
- Saturn
- Visible all night, from dusk until dawn, highest in the south at about 03:15. Brightness: magnitude 0.7.
Dates for your diary
- Friday 24 September: Mercury at greatest eastern elongation. Mercury is 26° from the Sun, as far as it gets on this swing, and in the evening sky after sunset. Mercury is always low and hard to spot from the UK; look for it in a clear sky low in the west, 30 to 45 minutes after sunset.
- Tuesday 28 September, before dawn: The Moon near Jupiter. The crescent Moon (5 per cent lit) is about 6° from Jupiter at about 06:20. A pairing like this is a good way to find a planet for the first time.
September equinox: Thursday 23 September at 07:05 BST. Day and night are close to equal in length. Autumn begins in the northern hemisphere, by the astronomers' reckoning.
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.