Wed 16 September · Rome
A dark-sky window opens.
Properly dark 20:52–05:17 · 8h 25m
waxing crescent · 30% lit · 7h 42m 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 02:18High around the middle of the night (around 02:18) — 51° in the south.rises 20:05sets 08:27highest 02:18 (51°)
- MarsBest 05:17Well-placed in the east — 39° just before dawn (05:17), still rising as the sky brightens.rises 01:38sets 16:35highest 05:17 (39°)
- JupiterBest 05:17Low in the east, still climbing when the sky brightens at 05:17 — only 17°.rises 03:40sets 17:46highest 05:17 (17°)
- VenusBest 19:18Low in the southwest — 10° as darkness falls (19:18), then dropping, a bright twilight object.rises 10:29sets 20:18highest 19:18 (10°)
Twilight stages & sun times +
- Sunset19:18
- Civil twilight ends19:45
- Nautical twilight ends20:18
- Fully dark20:52
- First light05:17
- Nautical twilight (dawn)05:51
- Civil twilight (dawn)06:24
- Sunrise06:52
All times CEST (local). Moon-free windows: 21:35–05:17.
Sun, Moon & planet altitude +
Altitude across the night (CEST), 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 13 weeks
- Quadrantids meteor showerSun 3 January · Peak night. Sharp peak, up to ~40/hour — brief but rich.in 16 weeks
Show essentials
We bring the telescope, and we read the sky for you — so the night lands on the right hour.
Get in touch →