Night Sky Alert
Star trails circling the celestial pole above a volcano, crossed by the straight line of a space station pass
Tonight in Pingliang, China · More in China →
23 OUT OF 100

Stay in

Pingliang night sky · Sat, Oct 17, dark 19:11–6:06 GMT+8
Clouds
44%average tonight
Moon
39%Waxing Crescent
Aurora
Kp 2.7need Kp 9+
Space station
5:3039° high · W→NE
  • 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 5:30, up to 39° high, moving W → NE. It looks like a bright, steady star that crosses the sky in a few minutes.
  • Moon 39% lit (Waxing Crescent), above the horizon for 32% of the dark hours.
  • Clouds: about 44% effective cover during dark hours.

Updated 30 min ago. Times in Asia/Shanghai (GMT+8).

Photo: Benedikt Markus · CC BY-SA 4.0

Clouds tonight
20:00clouds, % of sky7:00
Aurora reach
Kp 9+ needed
Magnetic latitude 31.6° N, too far from either auroral zone in all but the rarest storms. Tonight's forecast peak: Kp 2.7. Live map →
Moon
39% 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 (GMT+8)HighestPath
Sun, Oct 18, 5:2739°W → NE

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

Launches within view

LaunchWhen (GMT+8)Distance
Long March 4B | Unknown PayloadSat, Oct 24, 2:00821 km
Long March 12A | Flight 2Sat, Oct 31, 8:00820 km

Launches within 1,000 km in the coming days. Night and twilight launches are the ones to watch. Data: The Space Devs.

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Nearby

Pingliang, China · 35.54°, 106.69° · population 504,848 (GeoNames). The score is an estimate; here's how it's made.