Sydney, Australia · Australia/Sydney
Live lunar conditions
Is tonight a Moon night?
A workable Moon night. The best window is 21:00–01:00; cloud cover is likely to be the limiting factor.
Tonight's verdict
A workable Moon night
Fair
Best window 21:00–01:00 · 4 hrs · Fair (54/100)
Look NNE · 56° above the horizon · 4 hrs
Phase
Waxing Gibbous
Illumination
79%
Next moonrise
Today 15:10
Next moonset
Tomorrow 04:05
Open-Meteo hourly forecast for 08:00 local · cached up to 20 min
Waxing Gibbous · 79% lit
Altitude -43° · Azimuth 208° · 390,182 km
Southern-hemisphere orientation · surface detail schematic
Tonight's outlook
The next 24 hours, without the guesswork
A deterministic viewing score, a recommended window, and the weather that could change the plan. All times are local to Sydney.
Best viewing window
21:00–01:00
4 hrs · look NNE · 56° altitude · 97% mean cloud
Thu 22 Oct · local time in Sydney
Viewing score
Cloud-weighted, per hour
Fair
Cloud likely to interfere
Not a scientific measurement. The index favours a Moon that is easy to see, not necessarily the sharpest surface detail.
Best time to look
Best contiguous window in the next 24 hours
21:00–01:00
4 hrs · look NNE · 56° altitude
Starts Thu 22 Oct local time. The window is the longest qualifying run at or above 50/100, selected by mean score.
Weather snapshot
Hourly forecast for the selected location
Overcast
91%
Cloud cover · 94% chance of precipitation
Moon altitude & cloud cover
Next 24 hours · local time · cloud bars rise from the horizon
Hover or focus an hour for details
Weather: Open-Meteo
| Local time | Moon altitude | Cloud cover | Precipitation chance | Score | Light |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thu 22 Oct 08:00 | -43 degrees | 91% | 94% | 0 out of 100 | Daylight |
| Thu 22 Oct 09:00 | -47 degrees | 100% | 96% | 0 out of 100 | Daylight |
| Thu 22 Oct 10:00 | -47 degrees | 100% | 96% | 0 out of 100 | Daylight |
| Thu 22 Oct 11:00 | -42 degrees | 93% | 96% | 0 out of 100 | Daylight |
| Thu 22 Oct 12:00 | -34 degrees | 92% | 98% | 0 out of 100 | Daylight |
| Thu 22 Oct 13:00 | -25 degrees | 98% | 100% | 0 out of 100 | Daylight |
| Thu 22 Oct 14:00 | -14 degrees | 98% | 100% | 0 out of 100 | Daylight |
| Thu 22 Oct 15:00 | -2 degrees | 79% | 98% | 0 out of 100 | Daylight |
| Thu 22 Oct 16:00 | 9 degrees | 63% | 95% | 7 out of 100 | Daylight |
| Thu 22 Oct 17:00 | 21 degrees | 91% | 90% | 14 out of 100 | Daylight |
| Thu 22 Oct 18:00 | 33 degrees | 94% | 84% | 24 out of 100 | Daylight |
| Thu 22 Oct 19:00 | 44 degrees | 99% | 76% | 33 out of 100 | Daylight |
| Thu 22 Oct 20:00 | 54 degrees | 99% | 69% | 39 out of 100 | Night |
| Thu 22 Oct 21:00 | 60 degrees | 98% | 61% | 54 out of 100 | Night |
| Thu 22 Oct 22:00 | 61 degrees | 98% | 53% | 54 out of 100 | Night |
| Thu 22 Oct 23:00 | 56 degrees | 98% | 47% | 54 out of 100 | Night |
| Fri 23 Oct 00:00 | 47 degrees | 95% | 43% | 54 out of 100 | Night |
| Fri 23 Oct 01:00 | 36 degrees | 100% | 40% | 47 out of 100 | Night |
| Fri 23 Oct 02:00 | 25 degrees | 100% | 37% | 38 out of 100 | Night |
| Fri 23 Oct 03:00 | 13 degrees | 83% | 33% | 30 out of 100 | Night |
| Fri 23 Oct 04:00 | 1 degrees | 79% | 29% | 25 out of 100 | Night |
| Fri 23 Oct 05:00 | -11 degrees | 51% | 25% | 0 out of 100 | Night |
| Fri 23 Oct 06:00 | -23 degrees | 22% | 22% | 0 out of 100 | Twilight |
| Fri 23 Oct 07:00 | -34 degrees | 50% | 19% | 0 out of 100 | Daylight |
| Fri 23 Oct 08:00 | -43 degrees | 27% | 20% | 0 out of 100 | Daylight |
Why this recommendation
- Waxing Gibbous at 79% illumination. The terminator gives the strongest crater shadows for the next few nights.
- The Moon climbs to about 61° around 22:00.
- Next moonrise: Thu 22 Oct at 15:10.
- Forecast cloud cover averages 97% during the best window, with a 51% chance of precipitation.
Limitations & methodShowHide
- The viewing score is a convenience index, not a scientific measurement of sky quality.
- The Moon disc on this page is phase-correct but its orientation and surface detail are schematic; libration and parallactic angle are not modelled.
Local context
Moonwatching from Sydney
At 33.9° S, the Moon follows a relatively high arc. The disc is shown rotated for the southern hemisphere and surface detail is schematic.
All times on this page use the IANA time zone Australia/Sydney, including daylight-saving changes. The weather forecast is for coordinates -33.87°, 151.21°. It can differ across a large metropolitan area.
Want a different place? Use the location selector in the header, or view the live default page.
Next lunar event
Calculated phase · local to Sydney
Mon
26
Oct
Full Moon
15:12 local · Mon 26 Oct
Full Moon occurs at 15:12 local time in Sydney on 26 October. The Moon is opposite the Sun and fully illuminated. It is easy to see all night, but surface contrast is lowest because sunlight is nearly head-on.
More in Australia
Other city pages
These pages are curated, not generated for every place name. Each has the same calculated live data, a canonical URL, and a manual location selector for anywhere else. Method and sources.