Fri 18 September · London
A dark-sky window opens.
Properly dark 21:03–04:46 · 7h 43m
first quarter · 49% lit · 6h 47m of moon-free darkness
How we’d play it
A genuinely dark window — galaxies and nebulae are on the menu, and Saturn and Mars are well-placed for the eyepiece. The kind of night we plan a full session around.
Plan a night with us →Worth looking at
- SaturnBest 02:02Well-placed around the middle of the night (around 02:02) — 41° in the south.rises 19:43sets 08:13highest 02:02 (41°)
- MarsBest 04:46Well-placed in the east — 34° just before dawn (04:46), still rising as the sky brightens.rises 00:48sets 17:00highest 04:46 (34°)
- JupiterBest 04:46Low in the east, still climbing when the sky brightens at 04:46 — only 15°.rises 02:58sets 17:55highest 04:46 (15°)
Venus is below the horizon whenever the sky is dark.
Twilight stages & sun times +
- Sunset19:08
- Civil twilight ends19:41
- Nautical twilight ends20:21
- Fully dark21:03
- First light04:46
- Nautical twilight (dawn)05:28
- Civil twilight (dawn)06:08
- Sunrise06:41
All times BST (local). Moon-free windows: 22:00–04:46.
Sun, Moon & planet altitude +
Altitude across the night (BST), sunset to sunrise. A target is easy to observe when its curve is high during the shaded dark band. Tap “show planets” to overlay them.
Not tonight?
Darker nights suit galaxies and nebulae. The Moon thins out toward the end of the week.
Coming up
- Orionids meteor showerWed 21 October · Peak night. Halley’s Comet again, ~20/hour.in 5 weeks
- Leonids meteor showerTue 17 November · Peak night. Fast and bright, ~15/hour.in 9 weeks
- Geminids meteor showerMon 14 December · Peak night. The year’s best — up to ~120/hour, bright and slow.in 12 weeks
- Quadrantids meteor showerSun 3 January · Peak night. Sharp peak, up to ~40/hour — brief but rich.in 15 weeks
We bring the telescope, and we read the sky for you — so the night lands on the right hour.
Get in touch →