Sat 31 October · London
A dark-sky window opens.
Properly dark 18:28–05:00 · 10h 32m
waning gibbous · 63% lit · 2h 35m of moon-free darkness
How we’d play it
A genuinely dark window — galaxies and nebulae are on the menu, and Mars, Jupiter and Saturn are well-placed for the eyepiece. The kind of night we plan a full session around.
Plan a night with us →Worth looking at
- MarsBest 05:00High in the southeast — 50° just before dawn (05:00), still rising as the sky brightens.rises 23:12sets 14:17highest 05:00 (50°)
- JupiterBest 05:00Well-placed in the southeast — 45° just before dawn (05:00), still rising as the sky brightens.rises 23:49sets 14:21highest 05:00 (45°)
- SaturnBest 21:59Well-placed in the evening (around 21:59) — 40° in the south.rises 15:49sets 04:06highest 21:59 (40°)
Venus is below the horizon whenever the sky is dark.
Twilight stages & sun times +
- Sunset16:35
- Civil twilight ends17:10
- Nautical twilight ends17:49
- Fully dark18:28
- First light05:00
- Nautical twilight (dawn)05:39
- Civil twilight (dawn)06:18
- Sunrise06:53
All times GMT (local). Moon-free windows: 18:28–21:03.
Sun, Moon & planet altitude +
Altitude across the night (GMT), 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
- Leonids meteor showerTue 17 November · Peak night. Fast and bright, ~15/hour.in 17 days
- Geminids meteor showerMon 14 December · Peak night. The year’s best — up to ~120/hour, bright and slow.in 6 weeks
- Quadrantids meteor showerSun 3 January · Peak night. Sharp peak, up to ~40/hour — brief but rich.in 9 weeks
- Annular solar eclipseSat 6 February · Only 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 February · A shadow crosses part of the Moon — visible wherever the Moon is up at the time.in 16 weeks
We bring the telescope, and we read the sky for you — so the night lands on the right hour.
Get in touch →