Meteor showers · 2027
Southern Delta Aquariids 2027: when and where to look
The best night for the Southern Delta Aquariids in 2027 is Jul 30-31. At the peak, expect up to 15 meteors an hour from a dark place, and about 4 from a city or a bright suburb.
The Moon is a thin crescent (10% lit) that only rises shortly before dawn, so the sky stays dark. A good year.
Mostly faint, with steady numbers over several nights. They overlap with the early Perseids.
From your city
The best night and time, which way to look, and how many to expect where you are.
or pick a place:
The best time from these cities
| City | Best night | Best time | Radiant | Dark place | City | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shanghai, CN | Jul 30-31 | 1:51 AM GMT+8 | 43° south | 10 | 3 | Jul 30-31 · 1:51 AM GMT+8 · 43° south · 10 an hour dark, 3 in a city |
| Beijing, CN | Jul 30-31 | 1:50 AM GMT+8 | 34° south | 9 | 2 | Jul 30-31 · 1:50 AM GMT+8 · 34° south · 9 an hour dark, 2 in a city |
| Delhi, IN | Jul 30-31 | 2:33 AM GMT+5:30 | 45° south | 10 | 3 | Jul 30-31 · 2:33 AM GMT+5:30 · 45° south · 10 an hour dark, 3 in a city |
| Istanbul, TR | Jul 30-31 | 2:52 AM GMT+3 | 33° south | 9 | 2 | Jul 30-31 · 2:52 AM GMT+3 · 33° south · 9 an hour dark, 2 in a city |
| Lagos, NG | Jul 30-31 | 2:55 AM GMT+1 | 67° south | 15 | 4 | Jul 30-31 · 2:55 AM GMT+1 · 67° south · 15 an hour dark, 4 in a city |
| Karachi, Sindh, PK | Jul 30-31 | 2:37 AM GMT+5 | 49° south | 10 | 3 | Jul 30-31 · 2:37 AM GMT+5 · 49° south · 10 an hour dark, 3 in a city |
| Tokyo, JP | Jul 30-31 | 1:27 AM GMT+9 | 38° south | 10 | 2 | Jul 30-31 · 1:27 AM GMT+9 · 38° south · 10 an hour dark, 2 in a city |
| Moscow, RU | Jul 30-31 | 12:50 AM GMT+3 | 15° southeast | 2 | 1 | Jul 30-31 · 12:50 AM GMT+3 · 15° southeast · 2 an hour dark, 1 in a city |
| Mumbai, Maharashtra, IN | Jul 30-31 | 2:45 AM GMT+5:30 | 55° south | 15 | 3 | Jul 30-31 · 2:45 AM GMT+5:30 · 55° south · 15 an hour dark, 3 in a city |
| São Paulo, BR | Jul 30-31 | 2:13 AM GMT-3 | 82° north | 15 | 4 | Jul 30-31 · 2:13 AM GMT-3 · 82° north · 15 an hour dark, 4 in a city |
| Jakarta, ID | Jul 30-31 | 2:04 AM GMT+7 | 80° south | 15 | 4 | Jul 30-31 · 2:04 AM GMT+7 · 80° south · 15 an hour dark, 4 in a city |
| Cairo, EG | Jul 30-31 | 3:00 AM GMT+3 | 44° south | 10 | 3 | Jul 30-31 · 3:00 AM GMT+3 · 44° south · 10 an hour dark, 3 in a city |
| Seoul, KR | Jul 30-31 | 2:12 AM GMT+9 | 36° south | 9 | 2 | Jul 30-31 · 2:12 AM GMT+9 · 36° south · 9 an hour dark, 2 in a city |
| Lima, PE | Jul 30-31 | 2:11 AM GMT-5 | 86° south | 15 | 4 | Jul 30-31 · 2:11 AM GMT-5 · 86° south · 15 an hour dark, 4 in a city |
| Mexico City, CDMX, MX | Jul 30-31 | 2:43 AM CST | 55° south | 15 | 3 | Jul 30-31 · 2:43 AM CST · 55° south · 15 an hour dark, 3 in a city |
| Ho Chi Minh City, Ho Chi Minh, VN | Jul 30-31 | 1:58 AM GMT+7 | 63° south | 15 | 4 | Jul 30-31 · 1:58 AM GMT+7 · 63° south · 15 an hour dark, 4 in a city |
| London, England, GB | Jul 30-31 | 2:12 AM GMT+1 | 21° south | 6 | 1 | Jul 30-31 · 2:12 AM GMT+1 · 21° south · 6 an hour dark, 1 in a city |
| Dhaka, BD | Jul 30-31 | 2:02 AM GMT+6 | 50° south | 10 | 3 | Jul 30-31 · 2:02 AM GMT+6 · 50° south · 10 an hour dark, 3 in a city |
| Bengaluru, Karnataka, IN | Jul 30-31 | 2:27 AM GMT+5:30 | 61° south | 15 | 3 | Jul 30-31 · 2:27 AM GMT+5:30 · 61° south · 15 an hour dark, 3 in a city |
| New York | Jul 30-31 | 3:03 AM EDT | 33° south | 9 | 2 | Jul 30-31 · 3:03 AM EDT · 33° south · 9 an hour dark, 2 in a city |
| Bangkok, TH | Jul 30-31 | 2:26 AM GMT+7 | 60° south | 15 | 3 | Jul 30-31 · 2:26 AM GMT+7 · 60° south · 15 an hour dark, 3 in a city |
| Riyadh, SA | Jul 30-31 | 1:58 AM GMT+3 | 49° south | 10 | 3 | Jul 30-31 · 1:58 AM GMT+3 · 49° south · 10 an hour dark, 3 in a city |
| Hong Kong, HK | Jul 30-31 | 2:35 AM GMT+8 | 52° south | 10 | 3 | Jul 30-31 · 2:35 AM GMT+8 · 52° south · 10 an hour dark, 3 in a city |
| Bogotá, CO | Jul 30-31 | 2:02 AM GMT-5 | 69° south | 15 | 4 | Jul 30-31 · 2:02 AM GMT-5 · 69° south · 15 an hour dark, 4 in a city |
Meteors an hour at the best time on the best night, for one person watching the whole sky. Times are local.
Where to look
The Southern Delta Aquariids seem to fly out from Aquarius, low in the south, but they can appear anywhere in the sky, and the ones away from that point have longer trails. Look about halfway up, toward the darkest part of your sky.
Give your eyes 20 to 30 minutes to adjust, put your phone away (its screen resets your night vision), and lie back so you can take in as much sky as you can. No telescope or binoculars: they show too little sky.
Open Look up on the Sky Globe While the shower is on, Look up marks where they come from.
What they are
- Comes from
- A comet (which one is still debated)
- Speed
- 41 km/s (about 92,000 mph)
- Peak rate, perfect sky
- 25 an hour (IMO)
- Active
- Jul 12 to Aug 23
Each meteor is a grain of dust, most smaller than a grain of sand, left behind by a comet (which one is still debated). Earth runs into that dust on the same days every year, and the grains burn up about 100 km overhead.
Saw a fireball?
A meteor brighter than Venus is a fireball. Every shower makes a few. If you saw one, or something you can't place, tell us when and where and we'll check it against the shower, satellites, rockets and planes.
The next showers
How we work this out: the peak is when the Sun reaches the shower's place along its yearly path (the International Meteor Organization's way of timing it, with their numbers for the peak rate, the radiant and the speed). For each place we follow the night in 10-minute steps and scale the rate for how high the radiant is, twilight, the Moon and city lights. It's an estimate: clouds, haze and your eyes all change it.