Tonight's Sky

Overhead for you tonight

Based on your time zone alone so directions are approximate.

• The Big Dipper, in Ursa Major

  high in the northwestern sky · look for Alioth

• Cygnus, the Northern Cross

  in the northeastern sky · look for Deneb

• Lyra

  high in the eastern sky · look for Vega

How this page reads the sky

The moon phase above is computed. The page counts forward from a reference new moon through the 29.53-day lunar cycle, a mean-cycle model that tracks the true phase to under a day, which gives the phase name, the share of the disc that is lit, and the day of the lunar month.

The constellations are placed with sidereal time, the clock astronomers use to track which stars have rotated into view. Your time zone gives a rough position on Earth; from there the page ranks fifteen well-known constellations, from Orion and the Big Dipper to Crux in the deep southern sky, and shows the three best placed right now. Share your location and the compass directions sharpen to your spot, along with the time each figure sets tonight.

Everything drawn here is real. Star positions come from astronomical catalogs, the stick figures match the shapes printed on star charts, and southern-hemisphere visitors see every figure turned 180 degrees. Come back tomorrow night and it will have shifted: the stars rise about four minutes earlier each evening, and the moon moves one day further through its cycle.