Tonight’s sky
When it gets dark, what the moon’s doing, and which planets are up — for planning a night under the stars.
Waxing crescent · 28% lit
Fairly dark — deep-sky objects still show well.
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.
Darkness tonight
- Sunset20:18
- Civil twilight ends20:56
- Nautical twilight ends21:43
- Fully dark — a session can start22:38
- First light — dark ends03:30
- Nautical twilight (dawn)04:26
- Civil twilight (dawn)05:13
- Sunrise05:50
Moon
Moon-free dark skies (it sets at 21:35) — ideal for galaxies and nebulae.
Rises 11:50 · sets 21:35
Planets tonight (the eyepiece)
- SaturnWell-placed in the small hours (around 04:15) — in the south.rises 21:52highest 04:15 (42°)sets 10:34
- MarsWell-placed just before dawn (around 05:50) — in the east.rises 01:16highest 05:50 (39°)sets 17:53
- JupiterLow just before dawn (around 05:50) — in the east, a bright evening/morning object.rises 04:29highest 05:50 (12°)sets 19:49
Not visible at night from London tonight: Venus.
ISS passes (naked eye)
ISS pass times are unavailable right now — The ISS orbit data is out of date — check back later.
Coming up
- Partial lunar eclipse28 August · in 10 daysA shadow crosses part of the Moon — visible wherever the Moon is up at the time.
- Orionids meteor shower21 OctoberPeak night. Halley’s Comet again, ~20/hour.
- Leonids meteor shower17 NovemberPeak night. Fast and bright, ~15/hour.
- Geminids meteor shower14 DecemberPeak night. The year’s best — up to ~120/hour, bright and slow.
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 London’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.