Night sky tonight in Cape Town
The night of Sunday 18 October to Monday 19 October 2026
At a glance
Sunset 18:59, properly dark from 19:59, getting light from 05:02, sunrise 06:02 (local time).
The Moon is 53 per cent lit and waxing, setting at 02:05. It is in the zodiac sign of Capricorn.
The planets
- Jupiter: visible from 04:09 to 04:59, highest at 04:59 in the northeast, 19° up, near Regulus. Magnitude −1.8.
- Saturn: visible from 19:59 to 04:39, highest at 23:39 in the north, 55° up. Magnitude 0.4.
- Mars: visible from 03:49 to 04:59, highest at 04:59 in the northeast, 23° up. Magnitude 1.0.
Not visible: Mercury, Venus (too close to the Sun or not up in the dark).
ISS and space stations
No visible passes this night or the next two.
High in the sky at 10 pm
This week in the sky
- Comet 161P/Hartley-IRAS at its brightest: About magnitude 9.7: at the limit of binoculars, better in a telescope
- Orionids: peak: Up to 20 meteors an hour under an ideally dark sky. The Moon is 78 per cent lit then and drowns the fainter ones.