Tonight’s sky
When it gets dark, what the moon’s doing, and which planets are up — for planning a night under the stars.
New moon · 0% lit
Dark skies — ideal for galaxies and nebulae.
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
- Sunset20:14
- Civil twilight ends20:44
- Nautical twilight ends21:21
- Fully dark — a session can start22:02
- First light — dark ends04:28
- Nautical twilight (dawn)05:08
- Civil twilight (dawn)05:45
- Sunrise06:15
Moon
Moon-free dark skies (it sets at 20:14) — ideal for galaxies and nebulae.
Rises 05:34 · sets 20:14
Planets tonight (the eyepiece)
- SaturnHigh in the small hours (around 04:35) — in the south.rises 22:27highest 04:35 (51°)sets 10:59
- MarsWell-placed just before dawn (around 06:15) — in the east.rises 02:13highest 06:15 (43°)sets 17:25
- VenusLow in the evening twilight (around 20:14) — in the west, a bright evening/morning object.rises 10:13highest 20:14 (18°)sets 21:55
- MercuryJust catchable low before dawn in the east — a tricky one.rises 04:55highest 06:15 (13°)sets 19:33
Not visible at night from Rome tonight: Jupiter.
ISS passes (naked eye)
ISS pass times are unavailable right now — The ISS orbit data is out of date — check back later.
Coming up
- Perseids meteor shower12 August · todayPeak night. The summer favourite — up to ~100/hour, warm nights.
- Partial lunar eclipse28 August · in 15 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.
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 Rome’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.