SKY · WHAT'S UP TONIGHT · UK
What's in the Sky Tonight — Manchester
Tonight over Manchester: no naked-eye planets are well placed, a dark Moon.
Sun & Moon positions computed for Manchester (53.5°, -2.2°) · times in local time.
Tonight's highlights over Manchester
3 THINGS UPThe best of what's above Manchester right now, pulled together from every layer and ranked — tap any to go deeper.
The Moon meets Jupiter — The Moon passes about 3.4° from Jupiter — an easy naked-eye pairing. (tonight).
Whirlpool Galaxy (M51) rides about 84° up in the southern sky — a small-telescope target from a dark spot near Manchester.
Tonight's golden hour over Manchester runs roughly 8:43 PM–10:12 PM, with true dark not reached tonight.
Planets visible tonight
None of the bright naked-eye planets (Venus, Jupiter, Mars, Saturn) climb high into a dark sky over Manchester tonight. They drift in and out of view over weeks — check back, or see where they are now on the live map.
The Moon tonight
The Moon is nearly out of the way — dark skies for faint objects.
Aurora outlook
Aurora is unlikely from Manchester tonight: Kp is 1.0, below the roughly Kp 8 needed here. It takes a stronger storm to push the oval this far.
Source: NOAA SWPC (planetary Kp) · viewing threshold from Manchester's geomagnetic latitude.
The Space Station & satellites over you
The roundup above is for Manchester. For satellite passes we can use your exact spot — tap below to get the next ISS, Starlink-train and bright-satellite passes overhead.
What can you see in your sky tonight?
We can work out the next passes of the Space Station, a fresh Starlink “train” and other bright satellites over your exact spot — plus which naked-eye planets are out tonight and where to look. Your location is used only in your browser to do the maths and is never sent anywhere.
Manchester right now
Clear skies matter as much as what's up there — a quick check of tonight's cloud cover for Manchestertells you whether it's worth heading out.
Go deeper on the sky over Manchester
SEE IT ON THE MAP
The live sky map shows the auroral oval and the day/night line in real time.