This site was originally written to provide a means for myself to easily identify what objects are visible in the sky on any given night of the year. Now I've opened it up to all astronomers and curious minds alike.
The way it works is simple: choose a local date/time, choose your timezone, enter in your geographic coordinates (latitude and longitude) then the site does the rest.
You can also sign up to a service which will automatically email you (eg every night, every week, etc) so that you're always informed of what's coming up without having to check back.
At some stage soon, hopefully we'll even go so far as to make a guess as to how the local weather will impact the quality if your star gazing and factor that into the NightWatch report!
Example report for tonight
This report calculates the sun and moon activity, and also locates constellations and deep space objects from the SAC verison 8 catalog. For observational quality it limits the constellation and DSO results to those within 60° of the local zenith, and only DSOs with a magnitude of 6.5 or better (visible to the naked eye on a good clear dark night).
Using default time and location: 2023-12-02 21:00:00, 27° 56' 1" S 153° 17' 34" E (Gold Coast, Australia)
| Object | Twilight Starts | Sunrise | Direction | Sunset | Direction | Twilight Ends |
| Sun | 03:09 | 04:43 | 115.4° (southeast) | 18:30 | 244.5° (southwest) | 20:02 |
| Object | Rise | Direction | Set | Direction | Age | Luminosity |
| Moon | 22:51 | 64.5° (northeast) | 09:34 (2023-12-03) | 293.5° (northwest) | 20 days (waning) | 75.66%  |
| Object | RA | DEC | Azimuth | Altitude |
| Jupiter | 2h 18.7m | 12° 26.7' | 8.02° (north) | 49.29° |
| Saturn | 22h 14.2m | -12° 43.7' | 274.41° (west) | 36.00° |
| Uranus | 3h 10.5m | 17° 26.0' | 23.51° (northeast) | 41.29° |
| Neptune | 23h 42.0m | -3° 18.9' | 301.26° (northwest) | 49.45° |
| Pluto | 20h 3.6m | -23° 12.6' | 249.89° (west) | 11.93° |
Deep Sky Objects
| Type | Object | Constellation | Magnitude | RA | Dec | Azimuth | Altitude |
| Galaxy | Lg Magellanic Cl (aka ESO 056-G115) | Dorado | 0.4 | 5h 23.6m | -69° 45.0' | 159.57° (south) | 39.02° |
| Galaxy | NGC 598 (aka M 33) | Triangulum | 5.7 | 1h 33.9m | 30° 39.0' | 354.12° (north) | 31.15° |
| Galaxy | NGC 292 (aka Small Magellanc Cl) | Tucana | 2.3 | 0h 52.6m | -72° 48.0' | 186.61° (south) | 44.30° |
| Open Cluster | NGC 1662 (aka OCL 470) | Orion | 6.4 | 4h 48.4m | 10° 57.0' | 52.83° (northeast) | 33.21° |
| Open Cluster | NGC 1981 (aka OCL 525) | Orion | 4.2 | 5h 35.2m | -4° 26.0' | 75.95° (east) | 33.23° |
| Open Cluster | Cr 70 | Orion | 0.4 | 5h 36.0m | -1° 0.0' | 72.61° (east) | 31.26° |
| Open Cluster | Blanco 1 | Sculptor | 4.5 | 0h 4.3m | -29° 56.0' | 258.53° (west) | 65.25° |
| Open Cluster | Mel 25 (aka Hyades) | Taurus | 0.5 | 4h 27.0m | 16° 0.0' | 44.18° (northeast) | 33.05° |
| Planetary Nebula | NGC 7293 (aka PK 36-57.1) | Aquarius | 6.3 | 22h 29.6m | -20° 50.0' | 266.56° (west) | 42.52° |
| Globular Cluster | NGC 104 (aka 47 Tucanae) | Tucana | 4 | 0h 24.1m | -72° 5.0' | 189.75° (south) | 44.06° |
| Cluster with Nebulosity | NGC 1976 (aka M 42) | Orion | 4 | 5h 35.3m | -5° 23.0' | 76.94° (east) | 33.69° |
| Cluster with Nebulosity | NGC 1980 (aka OCL 529) | Orion | 2.5 | 5h 35.4m | -5° 55.0' | 77.51° (east) | 33.94° |
| Cluster with Nebulosity | Mel 22 (aka M 45) | Taurus | 1.2 | 3h 47.0m | 24° 7.0' | 29.58° (northeast) | 31.63° |
Constellations
| Constellation | RA | Dec | Azimuth | Altitude |
| Aquarius | 23h 0.0m | -15° 0.0' | 278.01° (west) | 47° |
| Aries | 3h 0.0m | 20° 0.0' | 19.27° (north) | 40° |
| Caelum | 5h 0.0m | -40° 0.0' | 120.06° (southeast) | 51° |
| Cetus | 2h 0.0m | -8° 0.0' | 1.95° (north) | 70° |
| Columba | 6h 0.0m | -35° 0.0' | 114.06° (southeast) | 39° |
| Dorado | 5h 0.0m | -65° 0.0' | 155.47° (southeast) | 43° |
| Eridanus | 3h 15.0m | -29° 0.0' | 98.20° (east) | 73° |
| Fornax | 3h 0.0m | -30° 0.0' | 102.33° (east) | 76° |
| Grus | 22h 0.0m | -47° 0.0' | 230.52° (southwest) | 41° |
| Horologium | 3h 0.0m | -60° 0.0' | 165.95° (south) | 56° |
| Hydrus | 2h 0.0m | -70° 0.0' | 179.66° (south) | 48° |
| Indus | 21h 0.0m | -55° 0.0' | 220.30° (southwest) | 31° |
| Lepus | 6h 0.0m | -20° 0.0' | 96.03° (east) | 35° |
| Mensa | 5h 30.0m | -80° 0.0' | 170.39° (south) | 34° |
| Octans | 22h 0.0m | -85° 0.0' | 184.99° (south) | 30° |
| Orion | 5h 0.0m | 5° 0.0' | 60.51° (northeast) | 35° |
| Phoenix | 0h 0.0m | -50° 0.0' | 217.23° (southwest) | 59° |
| Pictor | 5h 0.0m | -50° 0.0' | 135.41° (southeast) | 49° |
| Pisces | 1h 0.0m | 15° 0.0' | 340.29° (north) | 45° |
| Piscis Austrinus | 22h 0.0m | -30° 0.0' | 252.50° (west) | 39° |
| Reticulum | 4h 0.0m | -60° 0.0' | 155.65° (southeast) | 52° |
| Sculptor | 0h 0.0m | -30° 0.0' | 258.27° (west) | 64° |
| Taurus | 4h 0.0m | 15° 0.0' | 38.57° (northeast) | 38° |
| Triangulum | 2h 0.0m | 30° 0.0' | 0.69° (north) | 32° |
| Tucana | 0h 0.0m | -65° 0.0' | 198.24° (south) | 49° |
Light Pollution Report - from GlobeAtNight.org
| Date | Distance from location | Naked-eye Mag. | Cloud cover | Sky Comments | Location Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6/03/2011 | 35.41km | 3 | over 1/2 of sky | altostratus cloud cover, traveling northwest, sky glow further east. Brock Bell (B.B.) | suburban, a few house lights mostly from windows, quite a few trees, |
| 22/03/2011 | 57.92km | 4 | clear | ||
| 22/03/2011 | 32.83km | 4 | clear | ||
| 23/03/2011 | 46.74km | 5 | clear | Fairly clear sky. Minor sky glow from north west (due to Gateway motorway and Brisbane city). Eyes were not yet dark-adjusted, having just come outside from indoor lighting. | Suburban. A few nearby lights from houses, etc. 3/4 moon rising in east (approx 10-15 degrees). Trees to north. |
| 23/03/2011 | 46.74km | 5 | clear | Minor sky glow from north west (due to nearby Gateway motorway and Brisbane city). | Suburban. Some lights from nearby houses. Trees to north. 3/4 moon rising in east (approx. 10-15 degrees up). Eyes were not yet dark adjusted, having just come out from indoor lighting. |
| 26/03/2011 | 0.03km | 6 | clear | A couple of broken clouds rolling in from south-southeast. Main light glow from GC CBD towards southeast. | Park Lake estate. Approx 13km from CBD. Some streetlights and building lights. Hills to south, west and north; observing from valley. |
| 2/04/2011 | 21.67km | 4 | 1/4 of sky | just had storm come through and cleared up enough for good viewing still clouds in the west. | suburban area. View from backyard. Little bit of light pollution. |
| 3/04/2011 | 53.71km | 4 | clear | Sky glow from state capital city (Brisbane) north northeast | Urban |
| 4/04/2011 | 21.67km | 4 | 1/2 of sky | clouds come in and out | |
| 3/11/2010 | 52.50km | 3 | 1/4 of sky | ||
| 03/15/10 | 59.36km | 4 | 1/2 of sky | I would say it was Mag 4.5 because there were stars visible that Mag 4 but less than 5. | Fortitude Valley, Brisbane QLD |
| 29-Mar-09 | 56.72km | 5 | 1/2 of sky | Passing rain clouds eventually brought rain. Not the clearest of nights due to scattered showers in the region. Earth Hour appeared to be of negligible benefit here. | Reasonably dark park, during "Earth Hour". Not too much direct glare due to trees around the park. |
| 23-Mar-09 | 56.79km | 5 | clear | Pretty clear sky for this time of the evening, only minimal haze tonight. No sighted clouds. | Suburban area near top of a hill in a quiet street. Street lamps generally present the main issues with general observing, but there are (late) nights here where Crux and co. are quite 'milky' when conditions are quite cool and stable. So overall, while the location is not as ideal as a local park it is not too bad because there aren't many other places (walking) nearby that offer a better view. |
| 27-Mar-09 | 21.62km | 3 | clear | Suburban near ocean | |
| 25-Mar-09 | 10.18km | 4 | clear | ||
| 3/01/2008 20 | 44.12km | 5 | clear | Street lights and walkway lights within 100 metres, hidden from view | |
| 3/02/2008 20 | 44.12km | 5 | over 1/2 of sky | Full cloud cover 30 mins later S&T.com | |
| 3/02/2008 21 | 59.06km | 5 | 1/4 of sky | ||
| 3/04/2008 20 | 44.12km | 5 | clear | S&T.com | |
| 3/05/2008 20 | 44.12km | -9999 | over 1/2 of sky | Total cloud and pouring rain S&T.com | |
| 3/06/2008 21 | 44.12km | 5 | clear | S&T.com | |
| 3/07/2008 21 | 44.12km | 5 | clear | S&T.com | |
| 3/08/2008 21 | 44.12km | 5 | clear | S&T.com |