SKY · MILKY WAY · USA
Can You See the Milky Way from San Francisco?
Good news for San Francisco: tonight the galactic core climbs to about 23° 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 San Francisco (37.8°, -122.4°) during tonight's dark hours.
Milky Way season & the Moon for San Francisco
A bright Moon (49% lit) will wash out faint stars and the Milky Way tonight.
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 San Francisco.
San Francisco right now
A dark, cloudless sky is everything for the Milky Way — a quick check of tonight's cloud cover for San Franciscotells you whether it's worth the trip out of town.
More sky over San Francisco
SEE IT ON THE MAP
The live sky map shows the day/night line over San Francisco in real time.