SKY · MILKY WAY · USA

Can You See the Milky Way from Detroit?

Good news for Detroit: tonight the galactic core climbs to about 14° above the south-western horizon in a dark sky. With dark skies and no Moon, the bright heart of the Milky Way is on show.

GALACTIC CORE TONIGHT · DETROIT
VerdictGood — core well clear of the horizon
Core height14° up
Look towardsouth-western sky
Best by3:30 AM
MoonWaxing Crescent · 7%

Core altitude computed for Detroit (42.3°, -83.0°) during tonight's dark hours.

Milky Way season & the Moon for Detroit

Core season hereRoughly May to July, best around June.
Dark by10:35 PM
Until5:55 AM

The Moon is nearly out of the way — dark skies for faint objects.

The Milky Way is faint and easily lost to light pollution and moonlight. Even when the core is high, you need a genuinely dark sky — well away from city lights — and ideally a night near the new Moon to see it well from Detroit.

Detroit right now

A dark, cloudless sky is everything for the Milky Way — a quick check of tonight's cloud cover for Detroittells you whether it's worth the trip out of town.

More sky over Detroit

SEE IT ON THE MAP

The live sky map shows the day/night line over Detroit in real time.

Open the live sky map →