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

  1. Tonight31 Jul95%
  2. Sat1 Aug89%
  3. Sun2 Aug82%
  4. Mon3 Aug73%
  5. Tue4 Aug63%
  6. Wed5 Aug52%
  7. Thu6 Aug41%

Darker nights (lower %) are best for galaxies and nebulae. Tap any night to see its darkness, moon, planets and ISS passes.

RomeCEST

Thursday 1 October
all times CEST (local)

Waning gibbous · 70% lit

A bright 70%-lit moon is up through much of the night — best for the Moon, planets and bright targets; faint objects wash out.

Rises 21:31·sets 13:56

Darkness tonight

  • Sunset18:51
  • Civil twilight ends19:19
  • Nautical twilight ends19:51
  • Fully dark — a session can start20:24
  • First light — dark ends05:35
  • Nautical twilight (dawn)06:07
  • Civil twilight (dawn)06:40
  • Sunrise07:07

Planets tonight

  • SaturnHigh around the middle of the night (around 01:11) — in the south.rises 19:04sets 07:23highest 01:11 (50°)
  • MarsStill climbing when the sky brightens at 05:35 — reaches 45° in the east.rises 01:23sets 16:07highest 05:35 (45°)
  • JupiterStill climbing when the sky brightens at 05:35 — reaches 29° in the east.rises 02:55sets 16:55highest 05:35 (29°)

Not visible at night from Rome 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ISS pass times are unavailable right now — The ISS orbit data is out of date — check back later.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)

+60°+30°-30°-60°000306091215182124
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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 CEST (local).

Coming up

  • Orionids meteor showerWed 21 OctoberPeak night. Halley’s Comet again, ~20/hour.in 20 days
  • Leonids meteor showerTue 17 NovemberPeak night. Fast and bright, ~15/hour.in 7 weeks
  • Geminids meteor showerMon 14 DecemberPeak night. The year’s best — up to ~120/hour, bright and slow.in 11 weeks
  • Quadrantids meteor showerSun 3 JanuaryPeak night. Sharp peak, up to ~40/hour — brief but rich.in 13 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 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.