SKY · MILKY WAY

See the Milky Way — Galactic Core Season & Visibility

On a truly dark night, the Milky Way arches across the sky as a faint river of light — and its brightest part, the glowing galactic core in Sagittarius, is the prize. Whether you can see it depends on the season, how dark your sky is, and the Moon. Here's how it works, and how well placed the core is from your city tonight.

When is “Milky Way season”?

The dense, bright core of our galaxy sits low in the south (it's a southern-sky object), so its visible season differs by hemisphere. For the Northern Hemisphere it's roughly February to October — low before dawn in late winter, climbing higher and into the evening through summer, with the best views around June and July. For the Southern Hemispherethe core rides far higher overhead and the season is longer and more spectacular. Your city page below works out the exact season and tonight's core height for your latitude.

DARKNESS CONDITIONS RIGHT NOW

MoonWaxing Gibbous · 86% lit

Next new MoonWed, Aug 12

The Milky Way is faint — a bright Moon washes it out completely. The darkest, best nights are the week either side of a new Moon, far from city lights. Moon data computed from a low-precision lunar series.

Milky Way visibility by city

132 CITIES

Each city page works out the galactic-core season for that latitude, how high the core climbs in a dark sky tonight, and whether the Moon will spoil it — with an honest verdict for far-northern cities where the core barely clears the horizon.

USA

USASee the Milky Way — New York USASee the Milky Way — Los Angeles USASee the Milky Way — Chicago USASee the Milky Way — Houston USASee the Milky Way — Phoenix USASee the Milky Way — Philadelphia USASee the Milky Way — San Antonio USASee the Milky Way — San Diego USASee the Milky Way — Dallas USASee the Milky Way — Denver USASee the Milky Way — Seattle USASee the Milky Way — Miami USASee the Milky Way — San Francisco USASee the Milky Way — Boston USASee the Milky Way — Atlanta USASee the Milky Way — Washington, D.C.USASee the Milky Way — Minneapolis USASee the Milky Way — Detroit USASee the Milky Way — Las Vegas USASee the Milky Way — Portland USASee the Milky Way — Salt Lake City USASee the Milky Way — Orlando USASee the Milky Way — New Orleans USASee the Milky Way — Nashville USASee the Milky Way — Kansas City USASee the Milky Way — St. Louis USASee the Milky Way — Pittsburgh USASee the Milky Way — Cleveland USASee the Milky Way — Charlotte USASee the Milky Way — Indianapolis USASee the Milky Way — Anchorage USASee the Milky Way — Honolulu

USA · DARK-SKY

USA · Dark-skySee the Milky Way — Sedona USA · Dark-skySee the Milky Way — Moab USA · Dark-skySee the Milky Way — Bryce Canyon USA · Dark-skySee the Milky Way — Death Valley USA · Dark-skySee the Milky Way — Big Bend USA · Dark-skySee the Milky Way — Mauna Kea USA · Dark-skySee the Milky Way — Cherry Springs USA · Dark-skySee the Milky Way — Outer Banks

CANADA

CanadaSee the Milky Way — Toronto CanadaSee the Milky Way — Vancouver CanadaSee the Milky Way — Montréal CanadaSee the Milky Way — Calgary CanadaSee the Milky Way — Edmonton CanadaSee the Milky Way — Winnipeg CanadaSee the Milky Way — Yellowknife

MEXICO

MexicoSee the Milky Way — Mexico City MexicoSee the Milky Way — Guadalajara MexicoSee the Milky Way — Cancún

CUBA

CubaSee the Milky Way — Havana

PANAMA

PanamaSee the Milky Way — Panama City

PUERTO RICO

Puerto RicoSee the Milky Way — San Juan

BRAZIL

BrazilSee the Milky Way — São Paulo BrazilSee the Milky Way — Rio de Janeiro BrazilSee the Milky Way — Brasília

ARGENTINA

ArgentinaSee the Milky Way — Buenos Aires ArgentinaSee the Milky Way — Ushuaia

CHILE

ChileSee the Milky Way — Santiago

CHILE · DARK-SKY

Chile · Dark-skySee the Milky Way — Atacama Desert

PERU

PeruSee the Milky Way — Lima

COLOMBIA

ColombiaSee the Milky Way — Bogotá

ECUADOR

EcuadorSee the Milky Way — Quito

UK

UKSee the Milky Way — London UKSee the Milky Way — Edinburgh UKSee the Milky Way — Manchester

IRELAND

IrelandSee the Milky Way — Dublin

FRANCE

FranceSee the Milky Way — Paris

GERMANY

GermanySee the Milky Way — Berlin GermanySee the Milky Way — Munich

SPAIN

SpainSee the Milky Way — Madrid SpainSee the Milky Way — Barcelona

ITALY

ItalySee the Milky Way — Rome ItalySee the Milky Way — Milan

NETHERLANDS

NetherlandsSee the Milky Way — Amsterdam

BELGIUM

BelgiumSee the Milky Way — Brussels

SWITZERLAND

SwitzerlandSee the Milky Way — Zürich

AUSTRIA

AustriaSee the Milky Way — Vienna

CZECHIA

CzechiaSee the Milky Way — Prague

POLAND

PolandSee the Milky Way — Warsaw

DENMARK

DenmarkSee the Milky Way — Copenhagen

NORWAY

NorwaySee the Milky Way — Oslo

SWEDEN

SwedenSee the Milky Way — Stockholm

FINLAND

FinlandSee the Milky Way — Helsinki

ICELAND

IcelandSee the Milky Way — Reykjavík

NORWAY · AURORA

Norway · AuroraSee the Milky Way — Tromsø

PORTUGAL

PortugalSee the Milky Way — Lisbon

GREECE

GreeceSee the Milky Way — Athens

TÜRKIYE

TürkiyeSee the Milky Way — Istanbul

RUSSIA

RussiaSee the Milky Way — Moscow

UKRAINE

UkraineSee the Milky Way — Kyiv

EGYPT

EgyptSee the Milky Way — Cairo

MOROCCO

MoroccoSee the Milky Way — Casablanca

NIGERIA

NigeriaSee the Milky Way — Lagos

KENYA

KenyaSee the Milky Way — Nairobi

ETHIOPIA

EthiopiaSee the Milky Way — Addis Ababa

SOUTH AFRICA

South AfricaSee the Milky Way — Johannesburg South AfricaSee the Milky Way — Cape Town

NAMIBIA · DARK-SKY

Namibia · Dark-skySee the Milky Way — Windhoek

UAE

UAESee the Milky Way — Dubai

SAUDI ARABIA

Saudi ArabiaSee the Milky Way — Riyadh

ISRAEL

IsraelSee the Milky Way — Tel Aviv

IRAN

IranSee the Milky Way — Tehran

JAPAN

JapanSee the Milky Way — Tokyo JapanSee the Milky Way — Osaka

SOUTH KOREA

South KoreaSee the Milky Way — Seoul

CHINA

ChinaSee the Milky Way — Beijing ChinaSee the Milky Way — Shanghai

HONG KONG

Hong KongSee the Milky Way — Hong Kong

TAIWAN

TaiwanSee the Milky Way — Taipei

INDIA

IndiaSee the Milky Way — Delhi IndiaSee the Milky Way — Mumbai IndiaSee the Milky Way — Bengaluru IndiaSee the Milky Way — Kolkata IndiaSee the Milky Way — Chennai

PAKISTAN

PakistanSee the Milky Way — Karachi

BANGLADESH

BangladeshSee the Milky Way — Dhaka

THAILAND

ThailandSee the Milky Way — Bangkok

SINGAPORE

SingaporeSee the Milky Way — Singapore

MALAYSIA

MalaysiaSee the Milky Way — Kuala Lumpur

INDONESIA

IndonesiaSee the Milky Way — Jakarta

PHILIPPINES

PhilippinesSee the Milky Way — Manila

VIETNAM

VietnamSee the Milky Way — Ho Chi Minh City

AUSTRALIA

AustraliaSee the Milky Way — Sydney AustraliaSee the Milky Way — Melbourne AustraliaSee the Milky Way — Brisbane AustraliaSee the Milky Way — Perth AustraliaSee the Milky Way — Adelaide

NEW ZEALAND

New ZealandSee the Milky Way — Auckland New ZealandSee the Milky Way — Wellington New ZealandSee the Milky Way — Christchurch

NEW ZEALAND · DARK-SKY

New Zealand · Dark-skySee the Milky Way — Queenstown

Understand what you're seeing

FIELD GUIDEHow to see the Milky Way — dark skies, season & the Moon SKY · LIVEWhat's up tonight — the full roundup by city

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