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Night of 8–9 Oct
Tonight: Saturn in the middle of the night, Mars and Jupiter before dawn. No Moon in the dark hours: a good night for galaxies.
With a 130/900 Newtonian: 10 targets really worth it.
Centre of France
Times for the centre of metropolitan France — at your place, up to ±25 minutes off. Choose your town for exact times.
Your instrument
Set by hand. Choose your town for an estimate from satellite images; Bortle 6 is a typical French suburb.
This week
Each bar is where the object stands above 20° — below that you look through too much air (a rule of thumb). The dot is its highest point.
| Object | Above 20° | Highest | Direction |
|---|---|---|---|
| Day | 18:00–19:16 | ||
| Civil twilight | 19:16–19:47 | ||
| Nautical twilight | 19:47–20:21 | ||
| Astronomical twilight | 20:21–20:57 | ||
| Dark night | 20:57–6:19 | ||
| Astronomical twilight | 6:19–6:54 | ||
| Nautical twilight | 6:54–7:29 | ||
| Civil twilight | 7:29–7:59 | ||
| Day | 7:59–8:00 | ||
| The Moon (Moon up) | 18:00–18:10, 6:36–8:00 | 8:00, 13° | due east |
| Mars | 3:49–8:00 | 7:30, 55° | south-east |
| Saturn | 21:15–5:33 | 1:30, 45° | due south |
| Jupiter | 5:06–8:00 | 7:30, 43° | south-east |
| The Double Cluster | 18:00–8:00 | 3:00, 79° | due north |
| Albireo | 18:00–2:10 | 21:00, 69° | south-west |
| The Andromeda Galaxy | 18:22–8:00 | 1:30, 85° | due south |
In the sky now Saturn is at opposition on 4 October. Closest and brightest of the year and up all night. This year the rings are nearly edge-on, about 7°: a thin line either side of the globe. What a telescope shows of Saturn →
Not tonight: Venus.
Verdicts are observing rules of thumb, not optics: what an average beginner's eye makes of it through this instrument, under this sky.
These thumbnails are built from real photographs, scaled and darkened by the same arithmetic as the large view.
New moon3 % lit
Rises 6:34 · Sets 18:12
The Moon stays out of the dark hours.
Where to look No Moon to speak of: the night is for deep sky.
As the naked eye sees it from France. A telescope turns it round.
Sorted by what you see with a 130/900 Newtonian under your sky, then by height.
Each night: the Moon, the dark hours it leaves free, and the clouds over the dark hours (green under 30 %, red over 70 %).