Night Observation Planner

Enter a location, UTC offset and date to estimate darkness, Moon position, planet visibility and promising deep-sky targets across the observing night.

Latitude in degreesNorth is positive. South is negative.

Longitude in degreesEast is positive. West is negative.

UTC offset in hoursUse the offset that applies on the selected date.

Observation date

Moon through the night

When is the Moon above your horizon?

Moon position is being estimated for this date and location.

Approximate planet visibility

Which planets get high enough to observe?

Planet positions are being calculated for this date and location.

Deep-sky targets

Which catalogue targets are best placed tonight?

Deep-sky positions are being compared with your local sky.

Explore the full deep-sky catalogue →

How to read this planner

Sunset and twilight use the standard solar-declination and equation-of-time approach. Civil twilight corresponds to a solar altitude near -6°, nautical twilight near -12°, and astronomical twilight near -18°.

Planet positions use JPL's published low-accuracy Keplerian elements for the 1800-2050 interval. Deep-sky targets use catalogue right ascension and declination transformed into local altitude through the night.

The Moon section uses a compact low-precision lunar orbital model to estimate right ascension and declination, then samples altitude through the local night. Rise and set labels are planning estimates and should not replace a precision ephemeris.

Weather, atmospheric transparency, moonlight, local horizon obstructions and light pollution still determine whether a target is actually easy to see.

Source

Solar timing follows NOAA Solar Calculator methodology. Approximate planetary positions use NASA/JPL Solar System Dynamics elements. Deep-sky coordinates come from the local Messier reference dataset based on NASA HEASARC catalogue values.