Tonight · South Africa
Tonight’s sky in Cape Town
A great night in Cape Town, South Africa: dark from 20:51 until the Moon rises at 03:48. Tonight’s highlight is the Mars & Jupiter conjunction, low in the north-east at 04:08. Saturn is high in the north at 22:18; the Orion Nebula is high in the north at 03:18.
Worked out for the night of Thu 5 Nov 2026, on Cape Town’s clock (GMT+2).
Mars & Jupiter conjunction
Best atWhen it is dark
| Sunset | |
|---|---|
| Dark from | |
| Dark until | |
| Sunrise | |
| Hours of darkness | 7 h 17 min |
The Sun does not get 18° below the horizon here tonight, so the sky never goes fully dark: these are the darkest hours there are.
The Moon
Waning Crescent, 11% lit. It rises at 03:48. Every phase for the year ahead.
Planets
| Planet | Well up | Best | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| Saturn | – | 55° up in the north | |
| Neptune · binoculars or a telescope | – | 57° up in the north | |
| Uranus · binoculars or a telescope | – | 35° up in the north | |
| Jupiter | – | 21° up in the north-east | |
| Mars | – | 21° up in the north-east | |
| Venus | – | 14° up in the east |
Best to look at
- Mars & Jupiter conjunction, at : 22° up in the north-east.
- Orion Nebula, at : 61° up in the north.
- Saturn, at : 55° up in the north.
The week ahead
| Night | Dark | Moon | Sky |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thu 5 Nov | – | Moon only 11% lit | Dark |
| Fri 6 Nov | – | Moon down all night | Dark |
| Sat 7 Nov | – | Moon down all night | Dark |
| Sun 8 Nov | – | Moon down all night | Dark |
| Mon 9 Nov | – | Moon down all night | Dark |
| Tue 10 Nov | – | Moon down all night | Dark |
| Wed 11 Nov | – | Moon only 7% lit | Dark |
| Thu 12 Nov | – | Moon only 12% lit | Dark |
The nearest city with a page of its own: tonight in Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth), South Africa.
How it is worked out: the Sun, the Moon and the planets from the same ephemerides the sky map draws, for Cape Town at 33.93°S, 18.42°E, with a flat horizon and the light-pollution atlas’s estimate of its sky. Dark means the Sun 18° below the horizon; a planet counts once it is 10° up. The methods and their measured errors.