Tonight’s sky
When it gets dark, what the moon’s doing, and which planets are up — for planning a night under the stars.
Next 7 nights — tap a night to see it
Darker nights (lower %) are best for galaxies and nebulae. Tap any night to see its darkness, moon, planets and ISS passes.
Waxing gibbous · 99% lit
A bright 99%-lit moon is up through much of the night — best for the Moon, planets and bright targets; faint objects wash out.
Rises 18:34·sets 06:49
Darkness tonight
- Sunset19:17
- Civil twilight ends19:43
- Nautical twilight ends20:14
- Fully dark — a session can start20:45
- First light — dark ends05:48
- Nautical twilight (dawn)06:19
- Civil twilight (dawn)06:49
- Sunrise07:16
Planets tonight
- SaturnHigh around the middle of the night (around 01:50) — in the south.rises 19:45sets 08:03highest 01:50 (54°)
- MarsStill climbing when the sky brightens at 05:48 — reaches 44° in the east.rises 01:55sets 16:23highest 05:48 (44°)
- JupiterStill climbing when the sky brightens at 05:48 — reaches 25° in the east.rises 03:36sets 17:23highest 05:48 (25°)
- VenusAlready 9° as darkness falls (19:17), then sinking — in the southwest, a bright twilight object.rises 10:20sets 20:10highest 19:17 (9°)
- MercuryJust catchable low after sunset in the west — a tricky one.rises 09:02sets 20:02highest 19:17 (8°)
ISS passes (naked eye)
ISS pass times are unavailable right now — The ISS orbit data is out of date — check back later.
Sun & Moon path (altitude over 24h)
The shaded band is the genuinely-dark part of the night. A target is easy to observe when its curve is high (above ~30°) during that band; low on the horizon means haze and rooftops. Times are EEST (local).
Coming up
- Orionids meteor showerWed 21 OctoberPeak night. Halley’s Comet again, ~20/hour.in 4 weeks
- Leonids meteor showerTue 17 NovemberPeak night. Fast and bright, ~15/hour.in 8 weeks
- Geminids meteor showerMon 14 DecemberPeak night. The year’s best — up to ~120/hour, bright and slow.in 11 weeks
- Quadrantids meteor showerSun 3 JanuaryPeak night. Sharp peak, up to ~40/hour — brief but rich.in 14 weeks
Meteor showers are best on a moonless night away from town lights — use the moon panel above to judge. Eclipse and shower dates are worldwide; whether it’s above your horizon depends on your location and time.
Every time is shown in Athens’s own local clock, with daylight saving applied for the date. “—” means the event doesn’t occur (for example, some nights the moon doesn’t rise); “stays light” means the sky never reaches that stage (northern summer). ISS pass times use live orbital data and show only passes visible to the naked eye (bright enough, in a dark-enough sky). Planet visibility is judged during the genuinely-dark window, not by a daytime high point — so a planet only appears here when you could actually see it.