Ásar bardagi

South Africa · 33.92°S, 18.42°E · times in Africa/Johannesburg

Tonight's sky over Cape Town

Monday 26 October 2026. Sunset , properly dark from until . The Moon is waning gibbous, 99% lit, and it is up through all of tonight's darkness.

  • Mercury evening
  • Mars morning
  • Jupiter morning
  • Saturn evening
  • ISS 6 passes this week
  • Southern Taurids peak Thu 5 Nov
The sky over Cape Town at 21:06 on Mon 26 OctAQUILACETUSERIDANUSPEGASUSSAGITTARIUSSCORPIUSCanopusRigil KentaurusAchernarHadarAltairAcruxAntaresFomalhautMimosaDenebTolimanNeptuneSaturnMoonNNEESESSWWNW
The sky over Cape Town at tonight, looking straight up: the edge is the horizon, north at the top, east on the left. Hold it above your head facing south to match the sky.

Tonight at a glance

Sun and twilight

Sunset
Civil twilight ends
Nautical twilight ends
Astronomical darkness
–
Sunrise

The Moon

99%

Waning Gibbous

Moonrise
Moonset
(+1)
Moon-free darkness
none

Times between local noon today and noon tomorrow; (+1) means after midnight.

Dark-sky tip

A bright Moon tonight. Its light hides the Milky Way and fainter meteors. Use it instead: binoculars on the line between light and dark show craters in sharp relief.

Let the sky turn. The stars rise about four minutes earlier each night, so a constellation you see at 22:00 now will be in the same place at 20:00 in a month. If something is too low tonight, wait an hour or come back in a few weeks.

Tonight hour by hour

Tonight from 16:00 to 08:00: darkness, the Moon and planets above the horizon161820220002040608SkyMoonMercuryMarsJupiterSaturnUranusNeptune

Day Civil twilight Nautical Astronomical Full dark · bars show when each body is above the horizon

Planets tonight

Mercury

Evening: from low in the west-southwest, sets around in the west-southwest.

Magnitude +0.7 · in Libra · 18° from the Sun

Mars

Morning: rises around in the east-northeast, best near , 29° up in the northeast.

Magnitude +0.9 · in Cancer · 77° from the Sun

Jupiter

Morning: rises around in the east-northeast, best near , 27° up in the northeast.

Magnitude −2.0 · in Leo · 69° from the Sun

Saturn

Evening: from low in the east-northeast, sets around in the west.

Magnitude +0.4 · in Cetus · 157° from the Sun

Uranus binoculars

Morning: rises around in the northeast, best near , 35° up in the north.

Magnitude +5.6 · in Taurus · 148° from the Sun

Neptune binoculars

Evening: from low in the northeast until .

Magnitude +7.7 · in Pisces · 150° from the Sun

"Visible" means at least 5° above the horizon (15° for Uranus and Neptune) while the Sun is more than 6° below it. Directions: N, NE, E… are compass points along the horizon.

Visible ISS passes this week

DateAppearsHighestDisappearsVisible for
Mon 26 Oct SW72° SSE ESE3.5 min
Tue 27 Oct SSW38° SE ENE5.4 min
Tue 27 Oct W13° WNW WNW0.9 min
Wed 28 Oct WSW29° NW NNW3.7 min
Thu 29 Oct SW57° NW NNE6.2 min
Sat 31 Oct W16° NW NNW4.4 min

The International Space Station looks like a bright, steady star moving across the sky in a few minutes. Passes are computed from the latest orbital elements (epoch 2026-10-25); the station's orbit is adjusted from time to time, so a pass can shift by a minute or more. It may also fade suddenly when it enters Earth's shadow.

The next 7 nights

Night ofSunsetDarkMoonMoonrise / setMoon-free darkPlanets
Tue 27 Oct – 96% ↑ ↓ 25 min Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn
Wed 28 Oct – 90% ↑ ↓ 1 h 35 min Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn
Thu 29 Oct – 81% ↑ ↓ 2 h 45 min Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn
Fri 30 Oct – 72% ↑ ↓ 3 h 40 min Mars, Jupiter, Saturn
Sat 31 Oct – 61% ↑ ↓ 4 h 30 min Mars, Jupiter, Saturn
Sun 1 Nov – 49% ↑ 5 h 05 min Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn
Mon 2 Nov – 38% ↑ ↓ 5 h 40 min Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn

Moon calendar for October 2026 in Cape Town

1 Thu 74% ↓
2 Fri 63% ↑ ↓
3 Sat 52% ↑ ↓
4 Sun 40% ↑ ↓
5 Mon 30% ↑ ↓
6 Tue 20% ↑ ↓
7 Wed 12% ↑ ↓
8 Thu 6% ↑ ↓
9 Fri 2% ↑ ↓
10 Sat 0% ↑ ↓
11 Sun 1% ↑ ↓
12 Mon 3% ↑ ↓
13 Tue 8% ↑ ↓
14 Wed 14% ↑ ↓
15 Thu 21% ↑ ↓
16 Fri 29% ↑
17 Sat 38% ↑ ↓
18 Sun 48% ↑ ↓
19 Mon 57% ↑ ↓
20 Tue 67% ↑ ↓
21 Wed 76% ↑ ↓
22 Thu 84% ↑ ↓
23 Fri 91% ↑ ↓
24 Sat 96% ↑ ↓
25 Sun 99% ↑ ↓
26 Mon 100% ↑ ↓
27 Tue 98% ↑ ↓
28 Wed 93% ↑ ↓
29 Thu 86% ↑ ↓
30 Fri 77% ↓
31 Sat 66% ↑ ↓

Illumination at local noon; ↑ moonrise, ↓ moonset, local time. Moon pictures are drawn as seen from the southern hemisphere, lit side reversed. Phase dates for the whole world: Moon phases October 2026.

Planets this month from Cape Town

PlanetThu 1 OctThu 15 OctSat 31 Oct
Mercury Evening, sets Evening, sets not visible
Venus Evening, sets – not visible
Mars Morning, from Morning, from Morning, from
Jupiter Morning, from Morning, from Morning, from
Saturn Morning, from Evening, sets Evening, sets

Coming meteor showers

Southern Taurids

Peak Thursday 5 November 2026, local

Best on the night of Thu 5 Nov around , when the radiant is 41° up. Under a dark sky expect up to about 5 meteors an hour.

Moon 12% at peak

Northern Taurids

Peak Thursday 12 November 2026, local

Best on the night of Thu 12 Nov around , when the radiant is 34° up. Under a dark sky expect up to about 3 meteors an hour.

Moon 11% at peak

Leonids

Peak Wednesday 18 November 2026, local

Best on the night of Tue 17 Nov around , when the radiant is 23° up. Under a dark sky expect up to about 6 meteors an hour, fewer this year because the Moon is 55% lit.

Moon 55% at peak

Rate = the shower's zenithal hourly rate × the sine of the radiant's altitude. Real counts are lower from towns and with moonlight; treat this as an upper guide.

Eclipses seen from Cape Town

Nearby cities

Somewhere else? Use your own location: the sky is computed in your browser and the location never leaves your device.