Night Sky Alert
Star trails circling the celestial pole above a volcano, crossed by the straight line of a space station pass
Tonight in Jacksonville, North Carolina · More in United States →
28 OUT OF 100

Maybe

Jacksonville night sky · Sat, Oct 17, dark 7:27 PM–6:23 AM EDT
Clouds
32%average tonight
Moon
44%First Quarter
Aurora
Kp 2.7need Kp 9
Space station
5:54 AM24° high · W→N
  • Aurora unlikely. Tonight's forecast peaks at Kp 2.7. From here you'd usually need about Kp 9, which takes a rare, extreme storm.
  • Space station passes at 5:54 AM, up to 24° high, moving W → N. It looks like a bright, steady star that crosses the sky in a few minutes.
  • Moon 44% lit (First Quarter), above the horizon for 41% of the dark hours.
  • Clouds: about 32% effective cover during dark hours.

Updated just now. Times in America/New York (EDT).

Photo: Benedikt Markus · CC BY-SA 4.0

Clouds tonight
5:00 PMclouds, % of sky7:00 AM
Aurora reach
Kp 9 needed
Magnetic latitude 43.8° N. Look north. Tonight's forecast peak: Kp 2.7. Live map →
Moon
44% lit
First Quarter. Up for 41% of dark hours.
Next meteor peak
Orionids
Peak night Oct 21–22 · Moon 82% lit

Next visible space station passes

When (EDT)HighestPath
Sun, Oct 18, 5:51 AM24°W → N

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

Launches within view

LaunchWhen (EDT)Distance
Falcon 9 Block 5 | Bandwagon 5 (Dedicated Mid-Inclination Rideshare)Mon, Oct 19, 6:30 AM466 mi
Vulcan VC6L | Amazon Leo (LV-01)Wed, Oct 28, 8:00 PM465 mi
Falcon 9 Block 5 | Cygnus CRS-2 NG-25Sun, Nov 29, 7:00 PM466 mi
Falcon 9 Block 5 | SDA Tranche 2 Transport Layer DWed, Dec 30, 7:00 PM472 mi
Falcon 9 Block 5 | Telesat Lightspeed 1Wed, Dec 30, 7:00 PM472 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

Jacksonville, North Carolina, United States · 34.75°, -77.43° · population 67,357 (GeoNames). The score is an estimate; here's how it's made.