Night Sky Alert
Tonight in Costa Mesa, California · More in United States →
50 OUT OF 100

Worth a lookCosta Mesa night sky · Fri, Oct 16, dark 7:10 PM–6:04 AM PDT

  • Aurora unlikely. Tonight's forecast peaks at Kp 3.3. From here you'd usually need about Kp 9, which takes a rare, extreme storm.
  • Space station passes at 5:11 AM, up to 55° high, moving SW → NE. It looks like a bright, steady star that crosses the sky in a few minutes.
  • Moon 35% lit (Waxing Crescent), above the horizon for 32% of the dark hours.
  • Clouds: about 12% effective cover during dark hours, so mostly clear.

Updated 37 min ago. Times in America/Los Angeles (PDT).

Clouds tonight
8:00 PMclouds, % of sky7:00 AM
Aurora reach
Kp 9+ needed
Magnetic latitude 40.1° N, too far from either auroral zone in all but the rarest storms. Tonight's forecast peak: Kp 3.3. Live map →
Moon
35% lit
Waxing Crescent. Up for 32% of dark hours.
Next meteor peak
Orionids
Peak night Oct 21–22 · Moon 82% lit

Next visible space station passes

When (PDT)HighestPath
Sat, Oct 17, 5:08 AM55°SW → NE

Visible passes only: station sunlit, your sky dark. Computed from CelesTrak orbital data.

Launches within view

LaunchWhen (PDT)Distance
Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 15-15Tue, Oct 20, 3:14 PM168 mi
Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 15-16Fri, Oct 23, 10:29 PM168 mi
Falcon 9 Block 5 | SDA Tranche 2 Transport Layer EWed, Dec 30, 4:00 PM168 mi
Falcon 9 Block 5 | SDA Tranche 1 Tracking Layer AWed, Dec 30, 4:00 PM168 mi

Launches within 621 mi in the coming days. Night and twilight launches are the ones to watch. Data: The Space Devs.

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Nearby

Costa Mesa, California, United States · 33.64°, -117.92° · population 113,204 (GeoNames). The score is an estimate; here's how it's made.