Night Sky Today answers one question for wherever you are: what is in the sky tonight? It shows the current moon phase, moonrise and moonset for your city, the next full moon and its traditional name, and upcoming eclipses, meteor showers, supermoons, planet events and season changes.
How the numbers are calculated
All positions are computed on our own servers from published astronomical algorithms, chiefly those in Jean Meeus’ Astronomical Algorithms, with planetary positions from the Keplerian elements published by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Results are checked against the U.S. Naval Observatory’s published data. Moon phase times are accurate to within a minute or two; moonrise and moonset are accurate to a few minutes, which is the practical limit set by local horizon and atmospheric refraction.
Times are shown in the local time of the city you choose, including daylight saving changes. Full moon names follow the North American tradition popularised by the Old Farmer’s Almanac, with regional variants noted where they exist.
Data sources and credits
City names, coordinates, populations and time zones come from the GeoNames geographical database, used under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. Planetary orbital elements are published by NASA JPL. Algorithms follow Jean Meeus, Astronomical Algorithms (2nd ed.). Photographs are licensed from Shutterstock. The Lora typeface is used under the SIL Open Font License.
What the site is not
Night Sky Today is an educational reference for casual observers, photographers, gardeners and the curious. It is not intended for navigation, aviation, maritime use, religious calendar determination or any purpose where an error could cause harm. Astrology content, where it appears in blog posts, is presented as cultural history, not prediction.
Independence and funding
The site is independently owned. It is funded by advertising and by affiliate links, which are marked where they appear. Advertisers and affiliate partners have no influence over what we publish. See our Privacy Policy for how advertising affects your data.
Corrections
If you spot an error in a date, time or fact, please tell us through the contact page. Corrections to published articles are noted at the bottom of the article.