Tonight

What is worth pointing at from where you are, and when.

What is worth looking at

Drop a pin where you will be observing from, whether that is your garden, a balcony or somewhere you drive out to. This works out when it actually gets dark, what the moon is doing, and which objects climb high enough for long enough to be worth setting up for. Use the arrows to plan ahead.

Drag the pin, or tap anywhere on the map, to set your location. Nothing is sent anywhere.

Not sure? Count the stars you can see in one patch of sky on a clear night, and the Bortle scale article tells you what that count means.

Working out tonight's sky. If nothing appears here, JavaScript is switched off in your browser.

Times use your device clock. Tap a thumbnail to see the full picture, or the name to open its gallery page. Filter and kit suggestions are a starting point, not a rule.

Meteor showers coming up

A meteor shower works with a phone on a tripod as well as with a camera. The moon matters more than anything else on the night, so each one below says how much of it is lit on the peak night.

  1. Quadrantids

    Peak 3 to 4 January. About 25 to 50 an hour at a dark site.

    The peak is very short, often only a few hours.

  2. Lyrids

    Peak 22 to 23 April. About 10 to 20 an hour at a dark site.

    Modest, but it breaks the long gap between January and August.

  3. Eta Aquariids

    Peak 5 to 6 May. About 20 to 40 an hour at a dark site.

    Dust from Halley's Comet. Best in the hours before dawn.

  4. Perseids

    Peak 12 to 13 August. About 50 to 80 an hour at a dark site.

    Warm nights and a high radiant make this the easiest one to sit through.

  5. Orionids

    Peak 21 to 22 October. About 10 to 20 an hour at a dark site.

    Halley's Comet again, from the other side of its orbit.

  6. Leonids

    Peak 17 to 18 November. About 10 to 15 an hour at a dark site.

    Quiet most years, with occasional storms decades apart.

  7. Geminids

    Peak 13 to 14 December. About 60 to 100 an hour at a dark site.

    The best of the year. Bright, slow, and from an asteroid rather than a comet.

  8. Ursids

    Peak 22 to 23 December. About 5 to 10 an hour at a dark site.

    Small, and easy to combine with the Geminids the week before.

Photograph a meteor shower covers where to point, how many frames to take, and the settings for a phone or a camera.

Planning the session itself

This page gives you a shortlist for the night. Before every session I open Stellarium to do the rest: it shows exactly when a target clears the buildings, and draws my own telescope and camera onto the sky so I know what will fit. How I plan every session with Stellarium covers the routine, starting with the free web version.

New to this? Start Here has four things to try on the next clear night, with no equipment at all.