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.
Waning crescent · 2% lit
Moon-free dark skies (it sets at 19:04) — ideal for galaxies and nebulae.
Rises 05:24·sets 19:04
Darkness tonight
- Sunset19:28
- Civil twilight ends20:02
- Nautical twilight ends20:43
- Fully dark — a session can start21:28
- First light — dark ends04:28
- Nautical twilight (dawn)05:12
- Civil twilight (dawn)05:53
- Sunrise06:27
Planets tonight
- SaturnWell-placed in the small hours (around 02:34) — in the south.rises 20:20sets 08:52highest 02:34 (41°)
- MarsStill climbing when the sky brightens at 04:28 — reaches 30° in the east.rises 00:55sets 17:17highest 04:28 (30°)
Not visible at night from London tonight: Jupiter, Venus.
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ISS pass times are unavailable right now — The ISS orbit data is out of date — check back later.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 BST (local).
Coming up
- Orionids meteor showerWed 21 OctoberPeak night. Halley’s Comet again, ~20/hour.in 6 weeks
- Leonids meteor showerTue 17 NovemberPeak night. Fast and bright, ~15/hour.in 10 weeks
- Geminids meteor showerMon 14 DecemberPeak night. The year’s best — up to ~120/hour, bright and slow.in 14 weeks
- Quadrantids meteor showerSun 3 JanuaryPeak night. Sharp peak, up to ~40/hour — brief but rich.in 17 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 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.