Meteor showers · 2027
Perseids 2027: when and where to look
The best night for the Perseids in 2027 is Aug 12-13. At the peak, expect up to 70 meteors an hour from a dark place, and about 20 from a city or a bright suburb.
The Moon is 87% lit and up most of the night, so its glow will hide the fainter meteors. You'll still catch the bright ones; keep the Moon behind you.
Fast and bright, many leaving trails, on warm summer nights in the north. Best after midnight.
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 | Aug 12-13 | 3:40 AM GMT+8 | 56° northeast | 50 | 15 | Aug 12-13 · 3:40 AM GMT+8 · 56° northeast · 50 an hour dark, 15 in a city |
| Beijing, CN | Aug 12-13 | 3:35 AM GMT+8 | 60° northeast | 50 | 15 | Aug 12-13 · 3:35 AM GMT+8 · 60° northeast · 50 an hour dark, 15 in a city |
| Delhi, IN | Aug 12-13 | 4:13 AM GMT+5:30 | 55° northeast | 50 | 15 | Aug 12-13 · 4:13 AM GMT+5:30 · 55° northeast · 50 an hour dark, 15 in a city |
| Istanbul, TR | Aug 12-13 | 4:17 AM GMT+3 | 60° northeast | 60 | 15 | Aug 12-13 · 4:17 AM GMT+3 · 60° northeast · 60 an hour dark, 15 in a city |
| Lagos, NG | Aug 12-13 | 5:21 AM GMT+1 | 37° north | 40 | 10 | Aug 12-13 · 5:21 AM GMT+1 · 37° north · 40 an hour dark, 10 in a city |
| Karachi, Sindh, PK | Aug 12-13 | 4:39 AM GMT+5 | 52° north | 50 | 15 | Aug 12-13 · 4:39 AM GMT+5 · 52° north · 50 an hour dark, 15 in a city |
| Tokyo, JP | Aug 12-13 | 3:14 AM GMT+9 | 59° northeast | 50 | 15 | Aug 12-13 · 3:14 AM GMT+9 · 59° northeast · 50 an hour dark, 15 in a city |
| Moscow, RU | Aug 12-13 | 1:23 AM GMT+3 | 52° northeast | 50 | 15 | Aug 12-13 · 1:23 AM GMT+3 · 52° northeast · 50 an hour dark, 15 in a city |
| Mumbai, Maharashtra, IN | Aug 12-13 | 4:58 AM GMT+5:30 | 48° north | 50 | 15 | Aug 12-13 · 4:58 AM GMT+5:30 · 48° north · 50 an hour dark, 15 in a city |
| São Paulo, BR | Aug 12-13 | 5:08 AM GMT-3 | 8° north | 9 | 3 | Aug 12-13 · 5:08 AM GMT-3 · 8° north · 9 an hour dark, 3 in a city |
| Jakarta, ID | Aug 12-13 | 4:44 AM GMT+7 | 25° north | 25 | 8 | Aug 12-13 · 4:44 AM GMT+7 · 25° north · 25 an hour dark, 8 in a city |
| Cairo, EG | Aug 12-13 | 4:49 AM GMT+3 | 56° northeast | 50 | 15 | Aug 12-13 · 4:49 AM GMT+3 · 56° northeast · 50 an hour dark, 15 in a city |
| Seoul, KR | Aug 12-13 | 3:59 AM GMT+9 | 59° northeast | 50 | 15 | Aug 12-13 · 3:59 AM GMT+9 · 59° northeast · 50 an hour dark, 15 in a city |
| Lima, PE | Aug 12-13 | 5:03 AM GMT-5 | 19° north | 20 | 7 | Aug 12-13 · 5:03 AM GMT-5 · 19° north · 20 an hour dark, 7 in a city |
| Mexico City, CDMX, MX | Aug 12-13 | 4:56 AM CST | 48° north | 50 | 15 | Aug 12-13 · 4:56 AM CST · 48° north · 50 an hour dark, 15 in a city |
| Ho Chi Minh City, Ho Chi Minh, VN | Aug 12-13 | 4:23 AM GMT+7 | 41° north | 40 | 10 | Aug 12-13 · 4:23 AM GMT+7 · 41° north · 40 an hour dark, 10 in a city |
| London, England, GB | Aug 12-13 | 3:09 AM GMT+1 | 59° northeast | 60 | 15 | Aug 12-13 · 3:09 AM GMT+1 · 59° northeast · 60 an hour dark, 15 in a city |
| Dhaka, BD | Aug 12-13 | 4:04 AM GMT+6 | 51° north | 50 | 15 | Aug 12-13 · 4:04 AM GMT+6 · 51° north · 50 an hour dark, 15 in a city |
| Bengaluru, Karnataka, IN | Aug 12-13 | 4:42 AM GMT+5:30 | 42° north | 40 | 15 | Aug 12-13 · 4:42 AM GMT+5:30 · 42° north · 40 an hour dark, 15 in a city |
| New York | Aug 12-13 | 4:08 AM EDT | 60° northeast | 60 | 20 | Aug 12-13 · 4:08 AM EDT · 60° northeast · 60 an hour dark, 20 in a city |
| Bangkok, TH | Aug 12-13 | 4:41 AM GMT+7 | 43° north | 40 | 15 | Aug 12-13 · 4:41 AM GMT+7 · 43° north · 40 an hour dark, 15 in a city |
| Riyadh, SA | Aug 12-13 | 4:00 AM GMT+3 | 52° north | 50 | 15 | Aug 12-13 · 4:00 AM GMT+3 · 52° north · 50 an hour dark, 15 in a city |
| Hong Kong, HK | Aug 12-13 | 4:37 AM GMT+8 | 51° north | 50 | 15 | Aug 12-13 · 4:37 AM GMT+8 · 51° north · 50 an hour dark, 15 in a city |
| Bogotá, CO | Aug 12-13 | 4:29 AM GMT-5 | 35° north | 40 | 10 | Aug 12-13 · 4:29 AM GMT-5 · 35° north · 40 an hour dark, 10 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 Perseids seem to fly out from Perseus, in the northeast, 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
- Comet Swift-Tuttle
- Speed
- 59 km/s (about 132,000 mph)
- Peak rate, perfect sky
- 100 an hour (IMO)
- Active
- Jul 17 to Aug 24
Each meteor is a grain of dust, most smaller than a grain of sand, left behind by Comet Swift-Tuttle. 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.