SKY · MILKY WAY · USA

Can You See the Milky Way from New Orleans?

Good news for New Orleans: tonight the galactic core climbs to about 31° above the southern horizon in a dark sky. With dark skies and no Moon, the bright heart of the Milky Way is on show.

GALACTIC CORE TONIGHT · NEW ORLEANS
VerdictExcellent — core rides high
Core height31° up
Look towardsouthern sky
Best by1:05 AM
MoonWaxing Crescent · 6%

Core altitude computed for New Orleans (30.0°, -90.1°) during tonight's dark hours.

Milky Way season & the Moon for New Orleans

Core season hereRoughly May to July, best around June.
Dark by9:05 PM
Until6:00 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 New Orleans.

New Orleans right now

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

More sky over New Orleans

SEE IT ON THE MAP

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

Open the live sky map →