ശുഭ സായാഹ്നം
Here's your sky, exactly where you stand.
Choose a place to see how dark your sky is.
Enter a reading from an SQM meter or a calibrated phone app, in mag/arcsec². Higher means darker; 22 is a perfect sky.
Drag to look around and scroll or pinch to zoom. Tap anything for details. Track keeps the object centred as time moves, and Pin puts an arrow at the edge of the view that points the way to it. "What my eyes see" hides stars your own sky would drown out, using your light pollution, the Moon and twilight. Try Play with Track on to watch an object cross the sky.
Everything worth stepping outside for, in order. Add it to your calendar and your phone will nudge you ten minutes before each one.
Reminders here only work while this page stays open. For reminders that always reach you, use "Add to calendar".
Directions are true compass bearings. A closed fist held at arm's length is about 10°, so "3 fists up" means about 30° above the horizon. Visibility accounts for brightness, height, your light pollution, moonlight, twilight and clouds.
| Object | Where to look | Brightness | Can you see it? | Best tonight |
|---|
Brightness is in magnitudes: smaller is brighter. "Binoculars" and "Telescope" mean the object is fainter than your naked-eye limit here. Tap a row to point the compass at it.
Brighter green means an easier, better view. The top strips show the sky's darkness, the Moon, and the cloud forecast.
For every object: the easiest night and time over the next 30 nights, the best months of the year, and whether you need only your eyes, binoculars or a telescope. Worked out for your exact spot.
Scanning the next 30 nights…
Click anywhere in Kerala, or drag the gold pin. Switch on the night-lights layer to see satellite pictures of where the light comes from.
Night-lights imagery: NASA GIBS (VIIRS). Map: OpenStreetMap contributors, CARTO.
Land within about 60 km that should be darker than where you are. Estimates only, so check road access and safety before you go.
Choose a place first.
Bright satellites look like fast, steady stars gliding across the sky. They only show just after dusk or before dawn, when you're in darkness but the satellite is still lit by the Sun.
Select a pass to see its path across the sky chart.
Close meetings and highlights that are actually well placed from Kerala, worked out for your spot.
Working it out…
Working it out…
Checking…
The Malayalam calendar is written in the sky: months follow the Sun through the rashis, and days follow the Moon through the 27 nakshatras. Turn on the nakshatra belt in the planetarium to see them drawn along the ecliptic.
At 8° to 13° north, Kerala sits close to the equator. That gives you things much of India never sees.
Canopus, the second-brightest star in the night sky and known in India as Agastya, climbs about 29° above the southern horizon from Thiruvananthapuram on winter evenings.
The Southern Cross rises just above the southern horizon on evenings from roughly February to June. You'll need a clear view over the sea or an open field, and the further south you are, the higher it gets.
The Pole Star (Dhruva) sits only as high as your latitude, so it's about 8° up in Thiruvananthapuram and about 12° in Kasaragod. Look for it low in the north. Saptarishi, the Big Dipper, swings above and below it through the night and is easiest to see in spring.
The clearest skies come between November and March, after the north-east monsoon fades. April and May are hazy but often calm. During the south-west monsoon, from June to September, clear gaps are rare, so check the cloud forecast above before you travel.
Plan around the Moon too. Around the new moon (അമാവാസി) the sky is darkest; around the full moon (പൗർണ്ണമി) only the brightest objects stand out.
On autumn and winter evenings, look low in the north for five stars zig-zagging into a perfect W. That's Cassiopeia, and from Kerala it sits about 35° to 40° up at its highest. It points the way to Polaris, so it is a handy pole-finder too. Fun fact: it is also the sky's signature for the person who built this page.
Light pollution is heavy around Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode. Use the map above to find darker land nearby, such as high, open places near Munnar, Ponmudi, Vagamon and Wayanad. Check road, weather and forest-access rules before a night trip, and go with company.
Give your eyes 20 minutes to adjust, use a red torch, carry insect repellent, and watch your step on grass and rocks. Priyadarsini Planetarium in Thiruvananthapuram is a good place to start if you're new to all this.
Peak dates shift by a day or so each year. Watch from midnight until dawn, lie back, and give it half an hour.
Send a little star my way, or share the sky with someone who has never looked up properly. Every share gets one more person outside under the stars.