SKY Β· THE VIEW FROM EARTH, LOOKING UP
Interactive Night Sky
What's above you, right now. A live aurora forecast, the planets and Moon up tonight, the Space Station passing over, meteor showers and rocket launches β all on one map of the sky, built from the same free public data that powers the live Earth view.
ORBIT Β· EARTH FROM SPACE Β· LIVE SATELLITES
The swarm is live β each dot is a real satellite, its position computed this second from public orbital elements (CelesTrak). The day/night line and the live aurora oval (NOAA SWPC) are drawn right on the globe. Tap any dot for its altitude and position; toggle any layer top-right. Drag to spin the globe.
SKY DOME Β· LOOKING UP Β· THE SKY OVERHEAD RIGHT NOW
Drag to rewind or fast-forward the sky β watch the stars wheel, the Moon and planets rise and set. Press play to let it run.
The sky directly over Mauna Kea, right now β looking straight up, with the horizon as the outer circle and the point overhead at the centre. 331 of the brightest stars and 33 constellation figures, placed where they actually are. North is at the top.
Stars: HYG Database (public domain), J2000 Β· Figures: IAU constellation lines (d3-celestial, MIT) Β· Deep sky: Messier catalogue (NASA/SEDS) Β· Meteor radiants: IMO shower calendar Β· positions computed live β a naked-eye guide, not telescope pointing.
This is the other half of the canvas: instead of Earth from space, the sky from the ground. The chart shows what's straight up over a place at this moment β North at the top, the horizon as the outer ring. Pick a place, or tap βuse my locationβ for your real sky; toggle the constellation figures, star names, planets and grid in the rail.
Sky layers
27 LIVELOOK DOWN INSTEAD
Sky is one canvas of LiveEarthViewer. The live Earth map covers the planet below.
Field guides
LEARN MOREShort explainers for the view up β what you are actually looking at, when to look for it, and what the numbers on each tracker mean.
Who Celebrates New Year First β and Last?
Midnight on New Year's Eve doesn't happen everywhere at once. It sweeps the planet one time zone at a time, taking about 26 hours to cross from the first islands to the last. Here's who reaches the new year first, who's last, and why two places a few kilometres apart can be almost a full day apart on the calendar.
Full Moon Names, Supermoons & Blue Moons: Where They All Come From
Why January's full moon is the Wolf Moon, why the Harvest Moon isn't tied to a month, what a supermoon actually is (and why the lists disagree), and why a blue moon won't look blue. The traditions, the definitions, and the honest fine print behind the badges on the moon calendar.
The Day/Night Line: What the Terminator Actually Is
The line dividing day from night isn't a wall and isn't straight β it's a circle around the planet, moving at 1,670 km/h. Here's what the terminator is, why it tilts through the year, why night doesn't start at sunset, and why the Sun is never directly overhead in London.
Equinoxes & Solstices: What Actually Happens When the Seasons Turn
A solstice isn't a day β it's a single instant, the same everywhere on Earth. Here's what geometrically happens at the four seasonal turning points, why the equinox doesn't have exactly equal day and night, why the earliest sunset isn't on the shortest day, and why summer has nothing to do with being closer to the Sun.
How Crowded Is Low Earth Orbit, Really?
Tens of thousands of tracked objects circle the planet, but only a minority are working satellites. Here's what's actually up there β payloads, spent rocket stages and debris β why it bunches up at certain altitudes, and what the numbers do and don't tell you.
How to Watch a Solar Eclipse β Safely
A solar eclipse is the most spectacular thing the sky does β but the Sun is never safe to look at directly except during the brief total phase. Here's how to watch one safely, what the partial, annular and total phases actually look like, and how to find out what your city will see.
Meteor or Falling Satellite? How to Tell What You Saw
A brilliant streak crossed the sky β far brighter than a shooting star, maybe with a flash or a distant boom. Was it a natural fireball or a satellite falling back to Earth? Here's how to tell the two apart, and where to check what's recently been recorded and what's coming down.
Space Weather, Explained β the Numbers Behind the Aurora
Kp, solar wind speed, Bz, hemispheric power β aurora apps throw a lot of numbers at you. Here's a plain-language guide to what each one means, which one actually matters, and how to read them together to know if the aurora engine is running tonight.
Galaxies, Nebulae & Clusters β the Deep Sky, Explained
What lies beyond the planets and the brighter stars? A clear, no-jargon guide to deep-sky objects β galaxies, nebulae and star clusters β what the Messier list is, what each type actually is, and what you need to see them from your backyard.
What's That Light Crossing the Sky? A Spotter's Guide
A steady, silent point of light gliding across the night sky β no flashing, no sound. It's almost certainly a satellite. Here's how to tell the Space Station from a Starlink train from an aircraft, and how to know when the bright ones will cross your sky.
How to Find Constellations β and Star-Hop Between Them
A beginner's guide to learning the night sky: how to start from a few bright signpost patterns like the Big Dipper and Orion, 'star-hop' to find the rest, and why the constellations you see depend on your latitude, the season, and the time of night.
How to Actually See a Comet β and What a Magnitude Means
A realistic guide to seeing a comet: what comets are, why their brightness is so hard to predict, what 'magnitude 6' really means for your eyes versus binoculars versus a telescope, how to find one in the sky, and why most comets are telescope targets rather than the naked-eye spectacles headlines promise.
How to Spot the Space Station With the Naked Eye
The International Space Station is one of the brightest things in the night sky β no telescope needed. Here's what it looks like, when it's visible, which way to look, and how to read a pass prediction so you don't miss it.
How to See the Milky Way β Dark Skies, Season & the Moon
A practical guide to seeing the Milky Way's bright galactic core with your own eyes: why you need a genuinely dark sky, when 'Milky Way season' falls for your hemisphere, how the Moon ruins it, and which way to look.
How to Tell a Planet From a Star
That bright 'star' might not be a star at all. Here's the simple, no-equipment way to tell the naked-eye planets β Venus, Jupiter, Mars, Saturn and Mercury β apart from the stars around them, and how to know which planet you're looking at.
How to Watch a Meteor Shower β No Telescope Needed
A simple, practical guide to seeing a meteor shower: when to go out, where to look, why you don't need any equipment, and how the Moon and your radiant's height decide how many shooting stars you'll catch.
How to Watch a Rocket Launch β In Person or Online
A practical guide to watching a rocket launch: whether you can see it from where you live, how far away a launch is still visible, why dawn and dusk launches are special, and how to follow any launch live from anywhere on Earth.
Is Tonight Good for Stargazing? How to Read the Conditions
A practical guide to judging a stargazing night before you head out: why cloud cover beats everything, how the Moon ruins faint skies, what 'astronomical darkness' means, and how to read a clear-sky forecast for your location.
The Kp Index, Explained
What the Kp index actually measures, what each value from Kp 0 to Kp 9 means for seeing the aurora, how it relates to the NOAA G-scale geomagnetic storm levels, and how to read it on a live tracker.
Light Pollution & the Bortle Scale β How Dark Is Your Sky?
What light pollution does to the night sky, how the 9-point Bortle scale rates sky darkness from pristine wilderness to inner city, and how to find a genuinely dark-sky site within reach of where you live.
Moon Phases, Explained β Why the Moon Changes Shape
Why does the Moon grow from a thin crescent to a full disc and back again every month? A clear, no-jargon guide to the eight Moon phases, what 'waxing' and 'waning' mean, why we always see the same face, and how the phase affects stargazing.
Twilight & the Golden Hour, Explained β Dusk, Dawn and the Best Light of the Day
Sunset isn't the end of daylight β it's the start of twilight. A clear, no-jargon guide to civil, nautical and astronomical twilight, what the golden hour and blue hour actually are, why they vary by season and latitude, and when true darkness arrives for stargazing.
Conjunctions, Oppositions & Planet Parades β What the Words Mean
A plain-language guide to the astronomy-calendar words: what a conjunction actually is, why an opposition is the best time to see an outer planet, what counts as a 'planet parade,' and how to tell which sky events are genuinely worth going outside for.
Near-Earth Asteroids β How They're Found, Tracked, and Why Close Passes Aren't Scary
A calm, factual guide to near-Earth asteroids: what they are, how surveys discover and track them, what a 'close approach' in lunar distances really means, how scientists estimate an asteroid's size from its brightness, and why catalogued close passes are confident misses rather than threats.
What Is the Aurora β and Why It Glows
A plain-language explainer of the aurora (northern and southern lights): what causes it, why it appears in greens, reds and purples, where on Earth you can see it, and how to read a live forecast.
What Is the "Starlink Train" β and How to See It
That eerie line of evenly-spaced lights drifting silently across the sky is a Starlink 'train' β a freshly-launched batch of satellites flying in formation. Here's what causes it, how long it lasts, and how to catch the next one over your location.