SKY · MILKY WAY · USA · DARK-SKY
Can You See the Milky Way from Mauna Kea?
Good news for Mauna Kea: tonight the galactic core climbs to about 41° above the southern horizon in a dark sky. With dark skies and no Moon, the bright heart of the Milky Way is on show.
Core altitude computed for Mauna Kea (19.8°, -155.5°) during tonight's dark hours.
Milky Way season & the Moon for Mauna Kea
A modest Moon — bright planets and constellations are fine, faint detail less so.
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 Mauna Kea.
Mauna Kea right now
A dark, cloudless sky is everything for the Milky Way — a quick check of tonight's cloud cover for Mauna Keatells you whether it's worth the trip out of town.
More sky over Mauna Kea
SEE IT ON THE MAP
The live sky map shows the day/night line over Mauna Kea in real time.