What Planets Are Visible Tonight? Is It Worth Going Out?
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Checking the skies above you…
Tonight's Cloud Cover, Hour by Hour
What's in the Sky Tonight
Your Sky Right Now
A live view of what's above your horizon right now: stars, constellations, the Moon, and planets. North is at the top.
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Got a clear night coming? Make the most of it.
Kit we've reviewed in full
Even a basic pair of binoculars transforms what you can see. A small telescope takes you to Saturn's rings and Jupiter's moons.
Saturn's rings, Jupiter's moons, lunar craters. Compact enough to grab on a whim when the score goes green.
Jupiter's moons in a line. Venus as a crescent disc. The Milky Way resolved into individual stars. A big step up from naked eye for not much money.
Point it at the sky from the app and it finds, tracks and stacks the image live on your phone screen. Jupiter's cloud bands, the Orion Nebula, even faint galaxies, with no finderscope or collimating to fight with.
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How the Score Works
We pull live weather data for your exact location and combine it with astronomical conditions to give you a single, honest number.
What's visible tonight from the UK?
What planets are visible tonight from the UK? As of Friday 13 November 2026: the Sun sets at about 16:20 and the sky is fully dark from about 17:35 to 06:10 (GMT). The Moon is a waxing crescent (19% lit), setting at about 18:40, so it will not spoil the view. Mercury is a morning object: it rises at about 05:45 and by about 06:50, as dawn brightens, it is 9° up in the east-south-east. Sunrise is at 07:25. Venus is a morning object: it rises at about 04:50 and by about 06:50, as dawn brightens, it is 16° up in the south-east. Sunrise is at 07:25. Mars rises at about 23:00 in the east-north-east and is 52° up in the south as dawn begins (about 06:10). Jupiter rises at about 23:10 in the east-north-east and is 51° up in the south as dawn begins (about 06:10). Saturn is an evening object: 22° up in the east-south-east as the sky gets fully dark (about 17:35), highest at about 21:15 when it is 39° up in the south and sets at about 03:20. Uranus is up all night: 7° up in the east-north-east as the sky gets fully dark (about 17:35), highest at about 00:45 when it is 58° up in the south and still 22° up in the west as dawn begins (about 06:10). It needs binoculars or a small telescope (magnitude 5.7) and a dark sky. Neptune is an evening object: 24° up in the south-east as the sky gets fully dark (about 17:35), highest at about 20:45 when it is 37° up in the south and sets at about 02:45. It needs a telescope (magnitude 7.8); binoculars show it only as a faint star.
Those times are for central England and shift by a few minutes a day (the planets on show change week to week). The sky map above shows exactly what's over your horizon right now, including the Moon and any visible planets.
For a written rundown (which planets are visible tonight, where to look, and the week's best events), see our UK night sky this week guide, updated every Sunday. To plan a few nights ahead, the 7-night astronomy weather forecast rates each night's cloud for your location. Meteor shower dates are in the meteor showers calendar, and is there a meteor shower tonight gives a quick answer for today, and satellite passes, including the International Space Station, are worth a look too. If the sky's putting on a different kind of show, check our live UK aurora forecast, and see our astronomy events calendar for everything else worth diarising through 2026 and 2027.
Not going out tonight?
Explore our sky guides, learn the constellations, or dive into the Solar System. New to all this? Start with our stargazing for beginners guide, or browse our binoculars reviews for the easiest first upgrade.