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 gibbous · 83% lit
A bright 83%-lit moon is up through much of the night — best for the Moon, planets and bright targets; faint objects wash out.
Rises 18:22·sets 12:33
Darkness tonight
- Sunset16:39
- Civil twilight ends17:13
- Nautical twilight ends17:53
- Fully dark — a session can start18:31
- First light — dark ends04:57
- Nautical twilight (dawn)05:36
- Civil twilight (dawn)06:15
- Sunrise06:50
Planets tonight
- MarsStill climbing when the sky brightens at 04:57 — reaches 49° in the southeast.rises 23:14sets 14:22highest 04:57 (49°)
- JupiterStill climbing when the sky brightens at 04:57 — reaches 44° in the southeast.rises 23:55sets 14:29highest 04:57 (44°)
- SaturnWell-placed in the evening (around 22:00) — in the south.rises 15:57sets 04:15highest 22:00 (40°)
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ISS pass times are unavailable right now — The ISS orbit data is out of date — check back later.
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 GMT (local).
Coming up
- Leonids meteor showerTue 17 NovemberPeak night. Fast and bright, ~15/hour.in 19 days
- Geminids meteor showerMon 14 DecemberPeak night. The year’s best — up to ~120/hour, bright and slow.in 7 weeks
- Quadrantids meteor showerSun 3 JanuaryPeak night. Sharp peak, up to ~40/hour — brief but rich.in 9 weeks
- Annular solar eclipseSat 6 FebruaryOnly visible along a narrow track on Earth — check whether it passes near you (never look at the Sun unprotected).in 14 weeks
- Penumbral lunar eclipseSat 20 FebruaryA shadow crosses part of the Moon — visible wherever the Moon is up at the time.in 16 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.