April 2027 Moon Phases

April 2027 brings one of the year’s oldest meteor showers, though bright moonlight will get in the way this time, plus the second Full Moon of spring. There’s no eclipse on the calendar — the February 20 penumbral lunar eclipse is already behind us, and the next one is a penumbral lunar eclipse on July 18. Here’s what’s happening and when.

The Lyrids return, but moonlight will crowd them out

The Lyrid meteor shower is active from mid-to-late April, with a narrow peak overnight on April 22–23. It’s one of the oldest recorded meteor showers, observed for roughly 2,700 years, and its parent body is the long-period comet C/1861 G1 (Thatcher). Under a dark sky, the Lyrids can produce up to about 18 meteors an hour under ideal conditions, though the shower is known for rare historical outbursts that have topped 100 meteors an hour in past centuries.

This year’s timing is unfavorable: the peak falls just two to three nights after the Full Moon, with the Moon still about 95% illuminated that night, so bright moonlight will be in the sky for most of the night, washing out all but the brightest meteors and fireballs. If you want to try anyway, your best odds come after the Moon sets and before dawn, when the sky is darkest — moonset timing varies by location, so check it for where you are. For the timing of other showers throughout the year, see our meteor shower calendar.

The oldest meteor shower on record

The Lyrids’ radiant sits near the border of the constellations Lyra and Hercules, close to Vega, one of the brightest stars in the night sky and an easy naked-eye landmark even under light pollution. The radiant rises in the northeast in the evening and climbs highest in the hours before dawn — but as with most showers, it’s better to look somewhat away from the radiant than directly at it, since meteors near the radiant appear foreshortened into short streaks rather than long trails.

The shower’s parent comet, C/1861 G1 (Thatcher), was discovered by amateur astronomer A. E. Thatcher in April 1861 and has an orbital period of roughly 415 years, meaning it won’t swing back through the inner solar system until around the year 2276 — the meteors themselves are debris the comet shed on past passes, still drifting in its old orbital path. The Lyrids also hold the record for the oldest meteor shower with a confirmed written account: Chinese chroniclers recorded “stars fell like rain” during the shower in 687 BC. More recently, the shower has produced occasional surprise outbursts well above its usual rate, including an estimated 700 meteors an hour seen over Virginia in 1803, with smaller outbursts in 1922, 1945, and 1982. No outburst is expected in 2027.

Venus is April’s brilliant evening star

Even with the Lyrids fighting moonlight this year, April’s evening sky has a reliable bright point worth watching: Venus. Through the month, Venus sits low in the west-northwest for a couple of hours after sunset, gradually climbing higher and stepping eastward across the constellation Taurus as the month goes on. By late April it’s easy to spot as early as 30 minutes after sunset, well before the sky is fully dark — no special timing or equipment needed, just an unobstructed view toward the western horizon at dusk.

The Full Pink Moon marks the second Full Moon of spring

April’s Full Moon is widely known as the Pink Moon, though the name has nothing to do with the Moon’s actual color. It’s commonly traced to moss phlox (sometimes called moss pink), a low-growing wildflower that blooms across parts of eastern North America in early spring, around the time this Full Moon appears. Other traditional names include the Sprouting Grass Moon and the Egg Moon, both tied to the same seasonal awakening, and the Fish Moon, sometimes associated with shad and other fish species making their spring spawning runs upriver along parts of the East Coast.

Unlike January’s and February’s Full Moons, April’s isn’t unusually close to or far from Earth this year, so there’s no supermoon or micromoon distinction attached to it — just an ordinary Full Moon marking the second one of astronomical spring, following March’s Worm Moon.