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Sky tonight

The sky tonight over Auckland Park

When the International Space Station flies over, which planets are up, the moon and the clouds, worked out for your spot. Plus rocket launches, asteroids passing Earth.

Darkness

Dark now

light again 4:45 AM · sunrise 5:10 AM

Moon

First quarter, 34% lit

rises Mon, Nov 16, 10:46 AM · sets Sun, Nov 15, 11:45 PM

Full Tue, Nov 24 · new Wed, Dec 9

Clouds tonight

Mostly cloudy (70% cover)

9:00 PM4:00 AM

Planets tonight

Times in Africa/Johannesburg. “Highest” is when it stands highest in the dark sky.

  • Mercury

    Not up in the dark tonight

  • Venus

    Up from 4:12 AM until dawn

    Highest 4:42 AM, 16° up in the E

    dazzling (mag -4.8) · in Virgo

  • Mars

    Up from 1:32 AM until dawn

    Highest 4:42 AM, 42° up in the NNE

    bright (mag 0.7) · in Leo

  • Jupiter

    Up from 1:32 AM until dawn

    Highest 4:42 AM, 44° up in the NE

    very bright (mag -2.1) · in Leo

  • Saturn

    Up at dusk until 2:22 AM

    Highest 9:12 PM, 63° up in the N

    bright (mag 0.5) · in Cetus

Space Station passes, next 3 days

Passes higher than 10°. “Visible” passes happen while it is dark where you are but the station is still in sunlight: look for a steady, bright moving star.

  • Mon, Nov 16, 3:56 AMNW → WSW (71° high) → SE7 minVisible
  • Mon, Nov 16, 12:08 PMSSW → SE (35° high) → ENE6 minnot visible (daylight or in Earth’s shadow)
  • Mon, Nov 16, 1:46 PMWNW → WNW (12° high) → NW2 minnot visible (daylight or in Earth’s shadow)
  • Tue, Nov 17, 3:08 AMNNW → NE (51° high) → SE7 minVisible
  • Tue, Nov 17, 4:47 AMSW → SW (11° high) → SSW2 minnot visible (daylight or in Earth’s shadow)
  • Tue, Nov 17, 11:21 AMS → SE (19° high) → E5 minnot visible (daylight or in Earth’s shadow)
  • Tue, Nov 17, 12:57 PMWSW → NW (23° high) → N5 minnot visible (daylight or in Earth’s shadow)
  • Wed, Nov 18, 2:21 AMN → NE (24° high) → ESE6 minVisible
  • Wed, Nov 18, 3:58 AMW → SW (19° high) → S5 minVisible
  • Wed, Nov 18, 10:34 AMSSE → SE (11° high) → ESE2 minnot visible (daylight or in Earth’s shadow)
  • Wed, Nov 18, 12:09 PMSW → NW (49° high) → NNE6 minnot visible (daylight or in Earth’s shadow)

Worked out from CelesTrak orbit data with the SGP4 model; accurate to about a minute. See the station now on Live Earth.

Upcoming rocket launches

Times in Africa/Johannesburg. Dates move often; “NET” means no earlier than.

Data from The Space Devs Launch Library 2.

Asteroids passing Earth, next 60 days

Every known object coming within 0.05 au (about 19 times the Moon’s distance). None of these is on a collision course.

ObjectClosestDistanceSize (est.)Speed
2026 VK13Sun, Nov 158.0× Moon13 m–30 m8.6 km/s
2026 VW15Mon, Nov 165.1× Moon10 m–23 m6.1 km/s
2026 VM3Mon, Nov 168.1× Moon9 m–20 m3.7 km/s
2026 VJ13Tue, Nov 173.5× Moon9 m–21 m10.4 km/s
2023 VE6Tue, Nov 1718.3× Moon10 m–22 m10.1 km/s
2026 VB13Tue, Nov 179.9× Moon24 m–53 m20.5 km/s
2022 VB2Tue, Nov 177.7× Moon25 m–55 m9.0 km/s
2012 VF46Wed, Nov 1816.5× Moon51 m–113 m11.2 km/s
2018 NE1Thu, Nov 1916.6× Moon56 m–124 m13.3 km/s
2026 VA11Thu, Nov 198.7× Moon9 m–21 m8.9 km/s
2026 TB84Fri, Nov 2012.1× Moon50 m–111 m9.9 km/s
2026 VD6Fri, Nov 2010.4× Moon12 m–26 m9.4 km/s
2026 VN11Sat, Nov 215.2× Moon31 m–68 m7.1 km/s
2026 VD9Sat, Nov 2110.2× Moon24 m–53 m4.7 km/s
2026 VY15Sat, Nov 219.5× Moon21 m–46 m13.2 km/s

Data from NASA JPL’s close-approach database. Sizes are estimated from brightness, so they are ranges.