The sky’s diary, worked out for where you live
Some nights matter more than others. A new Moon means dark skies for faint galaxies. A meteor shower peak with no Moon is worth staying up for. A planet at opposition is at its closest and brightest. An eclipse might be visible only from your side of the world. This calendar collects them month by month and works out the exact times in your own time zone. It also checks whether eclipses can be seen from your place.
How to use it
- Set your place at the top. Eclipse visibility and local times depend on where you are. Your location stays on your device.
- Use ‹ and › to move between months. Each day shows how much of the Moon is lit at 10 pm, so the darkest stretches are easy to spot.
- Tap any day to open Sky tonight for that date, with planets, dark hours and the best objects.
- Events this month lists each event with its local time and a one-line note on why it matters.
- Add to my calendar downloads a standard .ics file. Open it with Google Calendar, Apple Calendar or Outlook, and the events are added to your own calendar.
- Download the month as an image, PDF or Word file to print or share with your astronomy club.
What is included
- Moon phases: new Moon, first quarter, full Moon and last quarter, plus perigee (closest) and apogee (farthest).
- Meteor showers: the 11 major annual showers with their typical peak rate (ZHR) and how bright the Moon is that night. Peak dates shift by about a day from year to year. The International Meteor Organization (imo.net) publishes exact times each year, so check there before a big night.
- Eclipses: lunar eclipses (with whether the Moon is up for you at mid-eclipse) and solar eclipses as seen from your place, with how much of the Sun is covered. Never look at the Sun without a certified solar filter.
- Planets: greatest elongations of Mercury and Venus (the best time to spot them) and oppositions of Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.
- Seasons: equinoxes and solstices.
Worked example
Pick December 2026 from Toronto. The Geminids, the richest shower of the year at up to 150 meteors an hour, peak around 14 December. The calendar shows the Moon’s brightness for that night and the nights around it, so you can pick the darkest one. Tap the 13th to see when the radiant in Gemini rises and what else is up.
Questions
How accurate are the times? Moon phases, eclipses and planet events come from astronomy-engine and are accurate to about a minute. Meteor shower dates are the usual peak dates and can move by a day.
Do I need to be online? No. Once the page has loaded, every month can be worked out offline, years ahead or back.
Last updated 2026-11-07.