This is a dated observing guide for one event. Check the source calendar and local conditions before making plans. A later year needs its own fresh forecast.
Source review: . Reviewer and owner: Jonas Keller. Next review: . Recheck sooner if a linked source or tool changes. To report errors, email hello@skylumi.app.
When to look
NASA lists Lyrid activity from April 14 to April 30, 2027. The peak falls on the night of April 22 into April 23. The catalog behind SkyLumi’s meteor pages gives a specific instant, 01:40 UTC on April 23, from the IMO calendar.
We tried to reach imo.net again on 8 September 2026. It is still offline after a reported cyber attack, as is the American Meteor Society’s site. NASA’s dates agree with the catalog, which is why this page cites both.
Convert 01:40 UTC to your own clock first. It falls in the late evening of April 22 across the Americas. Across Europe, Africa and Asia it is the early hours of April 23.
The Moon is the problem this year
The Moon is full on April 20, 2027 at 22:27 UTC. By the peak it is a waning gibbous about 93% lit, per the US Naval Observatory. That is close to the worst case for a modest shower.
At 40 degrees north the Moon rises at about 22:09 local time on April 22 and stays up past dawn. Twilight ends around 20:14, so there is roughly a two-hour dark window before it appears.
Use that window if you can. Moonlight does not stop the brightest Lyrids, but it removes the faint ones, and most meteors are faint.
Where the radiant is, and how high
The radiant sits in Lyra, close to Vega, one of the brightest stars in the northern sky. It is at right ascension 18h 04m and declination +34 degrees.
Radiant height decides how many meteors reach you. At the peak instant the radiant stands 59 degrees up from London and only 9 degrees up from New York.
North America gets a better radiant later, in the hours before dawn on April 23. By then the Moon is high, so the two problems trade places.
How many to expect
NASA puts the Lyrids at about 5 to 6 meteors per hour under dark skies. At the peak it gives 10 to 20 per hour. The IMO catalog lists an idealized benchmark of 18.
Those numbers assume a dark sky and a high radiant. With a 93% Moon, plan on a handful across a whole session rather than a count.
The Lyrids have produced brief outbursts of around 100 per hour, recorded in 1803, 1922, 1945 and 1982. None is forecast for 2027, and none can be promised.
A comfortable way to watch
Find a safe spot with a wide view of sky and put the Moon behind a building or a tree. Facing away from it helps more than any equipment.
Give your eyes fifteen minutes away from screens before you judge anything. A reclining chair beats standing and craning your neck.
SkyLumi can help you find Vega and Lyra before you settle in. It does not predict individual meteors or tell you when one is coming.
If you miss it
The Lyrids return every April. The 2028 peak gets its own page rather than a reused date. That waits on the IMO calendar for 2028.
The next good shower with a dark sky is close behind. The Eta Aquariids peak on May 5 into May 6, 2027 at new Moon. Read the Eta Aquariid guide.
Sources and image credits
- NASA: Lyrids. Activity window, peak night, hourly rates and the historic outburst years, fetched 8 September 2026.
- International Meteor Organization: 2027 Meteor Shower Calendar. 01:40 UTC peak instant, ZHR benchmark and radiant, Table 5 and Table 6. A live re-fetch was attempted 8 September 2026. imo.net was offline after a reported cyber attack. This cites the edition already reviewed for this catalog on 6 September 2026.
- US Naval Observatory: Moon phase and illumination. Moon phase, illuminated fraction, moonrise and twilight times for April 22 and 23, 2027, fetched 8 September 2026.
Written for beginners from the sources above. How we research and correct the library. Found an error? Tell us.