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Tonight's sky

What is in the sky tonight in Sydney?

As of 6 October 2026, 01:17 UTC, the time of MET Norway's forecast, the best window for looking up tonight in Sydney is 20:00 to 23:00 local time, with 6 percent cloud in MET Norway's forecast. The Moon is a waning crescent, 19 percent lit, and rises at Wed 7 Oct 04:20. Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn are well placed in the dark, and 2 ISS passes are sunlit while the sky is dark. Local times are Australia/Sydney (UTC+11:00).

Forecast time 6 October 2026, 01:17 UTC.

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What this means

• The night lasts 11 h 23 min, from sunset at 19:01 to sunrise at Wed 7 Oct 06:24.
• The best window is 20:00 to 23:00: the Moon is below the horizon through the window, and the cloud forecast for it averages 6 percent.
• Cloud in the best window (6 percent) is below the average for the whole night (68 percent).
• The Moon is a waning crescent, 19 percent lit, and rises at Wed 7 Oct 04:20.
• Venus is the brightest planet well placed in the dark tonight (magnitude -4.6), highest in the dark at 19:31, 19 degrees up in the west-southwest; 4 more planets are well placed too.
• The first ISS pass that is sunlit while the sky is dark starts at Wed 7 Oct 04:10 and reaches 23 degrees; 2 of tonight's 4 passes are like that.

Cloud forecast: MET Norway's, not ours. Data from The Norwegian Meteorological Institute, shortened MET Norway, licensed under NLOD 2.0 and CC BY 4.0.

See also: all six cities, the ISS today, aurora tonight, all live numbers right now, Moon phases, planet events, meteor showers.

When is it dark and clear tonight in Sydney?

Tonight runs from sunset at 19:01 to sunrise at Wed 7 Oct 06:24: 11 h 23 min. Cloud averages 68 percent over these hours, from 0 to 100 percent. The forecast is mostly clear from 20:00 to 22:00, then mostly cloudy from 23:00 to Wed 7 Oct 03:00, then partly cloudy at Wed 7 Oct 04:00, then mostly cloudy from Wed 7 Oct 05:00 to Wed 7 Oct 06:00. How the viewing score works.

Where is the Moon tonight?

The Moon is a waning crescent and 19 percent lit at Wed 7 Oct 00:00. Tonight it rises in the east-northeast at Wed 7 Oct 04:20. It is highest at Wed 7 Oct 06:16, 21° up in the northeast. New, first quarter, full and last quarter each cover about 22.5 degrees of the cycle; crescent and gibbous cover about 67.5 degrees each. So "first quarter" here means 40 to 60 percent lit, and another almanac may name the night differently.

Which planets are up tonight?

Mercury is up at nightfall, sets at 21:00; while up in a dark sky it is highest at 19:31, 17° in the west. Venus is up at nightfall, sets at 21:11; while up in a dark sky it is highest at 19:31, 19° in the west-southwest. Mars rises at Wed 7 Oct 03:18; while up in a dark sky it is highest at Wed 7 Oct 05:51, 25° in the northeast. Jupiter rises at Wed 7 Oct 04:05; while up in a dark sky it is highest at Wed 7 Oct 05:51, 19° in the northeast. Saturn is up all night; while up in a dark sky it is highest at Wed 7 Oct 00:41, 54° in the north. Well placed means at least 15° up in a dark sky at magnitude 3 or brighter (lower is brighter).

What does the sky look like at 00:00?

Figures drawn: Eridanus, Piscis Austrinus, Grus, Sagittarius, Pavo, Aries, Cetus, Pegasus and Phoenix. Brightest named stars up: Sirius, Canopus, Rigil Kentaurus, Rigel, Achernar, Hadar, Altair, Acrux, Aldebaran, Fomalhaut, Mimosa, Toliman and Adhara.

When does the ISS pass over Sydney tonight?

At 20:00 the ISS climbs past 10° in the northeast, reaches 10° in the northeast at 20:00 and drops below 10° in the east-northeast at 20:00; it is not sunlit while the sky is dark. At 21:33 the ISS climbs past 10° in the west-northwest, reaches 57° in the southwest at 21:36 and drops below 10° in the southeast at 21:40; it is not sunlit while the sky is dark. At Wed 7 Oct 04:06 the ISS climbs past 10° in the south-southwest, reaches 27° in the southeast at Wed 7 Oct 04:09 and drops below 10° in the east at Wed 7 Oct 04:11; it is sunlit in a dark sky from Wed 7 Oct 04:10 to Wed 7 Oct 04:11, up to 23°. At Wed 7 Oct 05:43 the ISS climbs past 10° in the west-southwest, reaches 24° in the northwest at Wed 7 Oct 05:45 and drops below 10° in the north at Wed 7 Oct 05:48; it is sunlit in a dark sky from Wed 7 Oct 05:43 to Wed 7 Oct 05:48, up to 24°. By our calculation from the element set of 5 October 2026, 19:42 UTC, 2 of the 4 passes are sunlit while the sky is dark.

How this page is made

Computed, not observed: the Sun, Moon and planets with astronomy-engine, the ISS with SGP4 from CelesTrak's element set; the cloud is MET Norway's forecast. Published only while that forecast is under 6 hours old. Method and what was checked.

Questions

When is the best time to look at the stars in Sydney tonight?

20:00 to 23:00 local time by our viewing score, with 6 percent cloud forecast; a score, not a promise.

What phase is the Moon tonight?

Waning crescent, 19 percent lit at Wed 7 Oct 00:00.

Which planets are up tonight from Sydney?

Mercury (highest 17° at 19:31), Venus (highest 19° at 19:31), Mars (highest 25° at Wed 7 Oct 05:51), Jupiter (highest 19° at Wed 7 Oct 05:51) and Saturn (highest 54° at Wed 7 Oct 00:41).

When can I see the ISS from Sydney tonight?

Wed 7 Oct 04:10 to Wed 7 Oct 04:11 and Wed 7 Oct 05:43 to Wed 7 Oct 05:48, when it is sunlit in a dark sky by our calculation.

Sources

• MET Norway Locationforecast. The hourly cloud forecast (total cloud cover for all heights). Data from The Norwegian Meteorological Institute, shortened MET Norway
• astronomy-engine. The MIT licensed library that computes the Sun, Moon and planets, and their rise and set times
• CelesTrak current GP data. The ISS element set (NORAD 25544)
• ESA Hipparcos and Tycho catalogues. The stars on the chart come from the app's Hipparcos-based catalogue, whose provenance is not recorded. ESA's page gives CC BY-NC 3.0 IGO and Credit: ESA; which licence applies to this exact file is NOT CONFIRMED
• IAU Catalog of Star Names. The star names on the chart and in its table. IAU products are released under Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY), as the file's header states
• d3-celestial. The constellation stick figures on the chart (one common way of joining the stars, not the IAU's). Its data licence is not stated: NOT CONFIRMED
• IAU constellations. The constellation names on the chart and in its tables