Thu 12 November · London
A dark-sky window opens.
Properly dark 18:11–05:18 · 11h 7m
waxing crescent · 11% lit · 11h 7m of moon-free darkness
How we’d play it
A genuinely dark window — galaxies and nebulae are on the menu, and Mars, Jupiter and Saturn are well-placed for the eyepiece. The kind of night we plan a full session around.
Plan a night with us →Worth looking at
- MarsBest 05:18High in the southeast — 52° just before dawn (05:18), still rising as the sky brightens.
- JupiterBest 05:18High in the southeast — 50° just before dawn (05:18), still rising as the sky brightens.
- SaturnBest 21:12Well-placed in the evening (around 21:12) — 39° in the south.
- VenusBest 07:15Low in the southeast, still climbing when the sky brightens at 07:15 — only 19°, a bright twilight object.
- MercuryBest 07:15Just catchable low before dawn in the southeast — a tricky one.
Twilight stages & sun times +
- Sunset16:15
- Civil twilight ends16:51
- Nautical twilight ends17:32
- Fully dark18:11
- First light05:18
- Nautical twilight (dawn)05:57
- Civil twilight (dawn)06:38
- Sunrise07:15
All times GMT (local). Moon-free windows: 18:11–05:18.
Not tonight?
Darker nights suit galaxies and nebulae. The Moon thins out toward the end of the week.
Coming up
- Leonids meteor showerTue 17 November · Peak night. Fast and bright, ~15/hour.in 5 days
- Geminids meteor showerMon 14 December · Peak night. The year’s best — up to ~120/hour, bright and slow.in 5 weeks
- Quadrantids meteor showerSun 3 January · Peak night. Sharp peak, up to ~40/hour — brief but rich.in 7 weeks
- Annular solar eclipseSat 6 February · Only visible along a narrow track on Earth — check whether it passes near you (never look at the Sun unprotected).in 12 weeks
- Penumbral lunar eclipseSat 20 February · A shadow crosses part of the Moon — visible wherever the Moon is up at the time.in 14 weeks
Show full detail
We bring the telescope, and we read the sky for you — so the night lands on the right hour.
Get in touch →