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.
Waxing gibbous · 86% lit
A bright 86%-lit moon is up through much of the night — best for the Moon, planets and bright targets; faint objects wash out.
Rises 16:22·sets 04:16
Darkness tonight
- Sunset18:18
- Civil twilight ends18:46
- Nautical twilight ends19:18
- Fully dark — a session can start19:51
- First light — dark ends05:58
- Nautical twilight (dawn)06:30
- Civil twilight (dawn)07:03
- Sunrise07:31
Planets tonight
- MarsStill climbing when the sky brightens at 05:58 — reaches 53° in the southeast.rises 01:00sets 15:21highest 05:58 (53°)
- SaturnHigh around the middle of the night (around 23:51) — in the south.rises 17:38sets 05:52highest 23:51 (50°)
- JupiterStill climbing when the sky brightens at 05:58 — reaches 45° in the southeast.rises 01:50sets 15:41highest 05:58 (45°)
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ISS pass times are unavailable right now — The ISS orbit data is out of date — check back later.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)
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
- Leonids meteor showerTue 17 NovemberPeak night. Fast and bright, ~15/hour.in 4 weeks
- Geminids meteor showerMon 14 DecemberPeak night. The year’s best — up to ~120/hour, bright and slow.in 8 weeks
- Quadrantids meteor showerSun 3 JanuaryPeak night. Sharp peak, up to ~40/hour — brief but rich.in 10 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 15 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.