SKY · DEEP-SKY · SOUTH AFRICA
Deep-Sky Objects Tonight — Cape Town
Tonight from Cape Town, the best-placed deep-sky showpiece is Ptolemy Cluster (M7), riding about 89° up in the south-western sky. Here's the full list of galaxies, nebulae and clusters worth hunting from Cape Town tonight — and how dark a sky each one needs.
A modest Moon — bright planets and constellations are fine, faint detail less so.
Best placed over Cape Town tonight
Ranked by how high each climbs in tonight's dark sky from Cape Town. The higher an object is, the less atmosphere you look through — and the better it shows.
A bright, sprawling star cluster low in the southern Milky Way — naked-eye from dark skies. In Scorpius.
A bright nebula in the heart of the Milky Way — superb in binoculars from a dark southern-sky view. In Sagittarius.
One of the brightest globular clusters, low in the south for northern observers. In Sagittarius.
A delicate nebula split by dark dust lanes, near the Lagoon in the rich Sagittarius star fields. In Sagittarius.
Home of the famous "Pillars of Creation"; the surrounding cluster is an easy binocular sight. In Serpens.
An edge-on galaxy with a dark dust lane like a hat brim — a small-telescope classic. In Virgo.
A dense, rich open cluster shaped like a flight of ducks — lovely in binoculars. In Scutum.
A bright planetary nebula, an easy and rewarding binocular and small-scope target. In Vulpecula.
A bright spring globular with half a million stars — a fine binocular and small-scope target. In Canes Venatici.
A compact, bright autumn globular cluster, easy to find off the Great Square of Pegasus. In Pegasus.
A tiny, perfect smoke ring — the glowing shell of a dying star; a small-telescope favourite. In Lyra.
The finest globular cluster for northern observers — a fuzzy ball of hundreds of thousands of stars. In Hercules.
A swarm of stars filling a binocular field; a faint haze to the naked eye under dark skies. In Cancer.
A face-on spiral with a companion — its spiral arms are visible in a modest telescope from a dark site. In Canes Venatici.
Out of reach from Cape Town tonight
These showpieces are either below Cape Town's horizon during tonight's dark hours, or never rise from this latitude at all — useful to know before you go looking.
Cape Town right now
Faint galaxies and nebulae need a genuinely dark, cloudless, Moonless sky — a quick check of tonight's cloud cover and the stargazing verdict for Cape Towntells you whether it's worth the trip out of town.
More sky over Cape Town
SEE IT ON THE MAP
Watch the day/night line over Cape Town to plan your dark-sky window.