The night sky in October 2027
Moon phases, meteor showers, planets and the best nights to look up from the UK in October 2027. Times are UK clock time (BST) for central England.
Best nights to watch
- Draconids peak, nights of 8–9 and 9–10 October: Fair. The Moon is 64 per cent lit and sets at 00:17.
- Orionids peak, night of 21–22 October: Fair. The Moon is 58 per cent lit and rises at 22:01.
- Moon-free dark skies on the nights from 1 to 7 October: the best nights this month for faint shooting stars, the Milky Way and deep-sky objects.
- Moon-free dark skies on the nights from 25 to 31 October: 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
Draconids
Fair from the UKPeak: nights of 8–9 and 9–10 October (maximum expected around 08:00 BST on Sat 9 Oct, in daylight in the UK, so both nights are worth watching). Zenithal hourly rate: usually under 10, but capable of rare storms (what one observer would see in an hour under a perfect sky with the radiant overhead; expect fewer). Radiant: Draco (near the Dragon's head). Parent: Comet 21P/Giacobini–Zinner.
The Moon is 64 per cent lit and sets at 00:17. The best watching is from about 00:20 to 02:00, when the sky is dark, the radiant is well up and the Moon is out of the way.
Orionids
Fair from the UKPeak: night of 21–22 October (a broad maximum around Fri 22 Oct). Zenithal hourly rate: about 20 (what one observer would see in an hour under a perfect sky with the radiant overhead; expect fewer). Radiant: Orion (north of the bright star Betelgeuse). Parent: Comet 1P/Halley.
The Moon is 58 per cent lit and rises at 22:01.
Smaller showers peaking this month: October Camelopardalids (around 5–6 October (a sharp peak lasting under an hour), a few an hour at best); Epsilon Geminids (around 18 October, a few an hour at best); Leonis Minorids (around 24 October, a few an hour at best); Southern Taurids (broad maximum from about 10 October to early November (often quoted around 5 November), a few an hour at best).
Also active: Northern Taurids (peak around 11–12 November).
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
- In the morning sky before dawn, low in the south-east, from about 04:55 until the sky gets too bright. Brightness: magnitude −1.5.
- Saturn
- Visible all night, from dusk until dawn, highest in the south at about 01:05. Brightness: magnitude 0.5.
Dates for your diary
- Monday 18 October: Saturn at opposition. Saturn is opposite the Sun in the sky: it rises at sunset, is up all night and is at its brightest for the year, at magnitude 0.5. It is 1,249 million kilometres from Earth.
- Tuesday 26 October, before dawn: The Moon near Jupiter. The crescent Moon (14 per cent lit) is about 4° from Jupiter at about 06:50. A pairing like this is a good way to find a planet for the first time.
Clocks change: British Summer Time ends at 02:00 BST on 31 October, when clocks go back an hour to GMT.
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.