Southern Hemisphere night sky tonight

If you're based in the Southern Hemisphere and want to know what you can see in the night sky tonight, this page is for you.

Our monthly-updated night-sky guide will show you what you can see in the Southern Hemisphere over the coming weeks.

We'll include monthly highlights, stars, constellations, planets and deep-sky objects.

For more advice, read our guides to Southern Hemipshere stargazing and the best night-sky targets to see in Australia.

Total lunar eclipse

On 8 September, a total lunar eclipse is visible across Australia.

The partial phase begins at 02:27 AEST (00:27 AWST), reaching totality at 03:31 AEST (01:31 AWST).

Earth’s shadow covers the whole Moon until 04:53 AEST (02:53 AWST), with the partial phase ending at 05:57 AEST (03:57 AWST).

It will be a moderately dark eclipse, the northern limb of the Moon reaching the shadow’s centre, mid-eclipse, at 04:12 EST (02:12 AWST) and the southern limb remaining slightly brighter.

Stars and constellations

47 Tucanae. Credit: Johannes Schedler, CCDGuide.com

Many northern constellations trace their origins back over two thousand years, rooted in ancient myths. Those deep in the southern sky were formalised much later.

The 18th-century French astronomer de Lacaille named several, inspired by the scientific instruments of his time.

Earlier, in 1598, Dutch cartographer Plancius’s theme was exotic birds – some visible this month, such as the striking Grus the Crane, and Pavo the Peacock, Tucana the Toucan, and Phoenix.

Planets

Mars at Opposition by Matt Watson, Sydney, Australia. Equipment: Takahashi Mewlon 250, Losmandy G11, ZWO ASI174MM mono, Baader RGB filters, A Televue 3x Barlow

The early evening finds Mars the solitary planetary offering, low in the west and setting about an hour after twilight ends.

On the 13th, it passes just 2° from Spica. Saturn and nearby Neptune are at opposition this month, rising near sunset and due north and highest around midnight. Uranus arrives in the late evening, transiting near dawn.

Jupiter rises around 03:00 mid-month, followed by radiant Venus, which remains low in the eastern dawn glare.

Deep-sky objects

Messier 30, the Jellyfish Cluster, as seen by the Hubble Space Telescope. Credit: NASA/ESA

This month, a trip to Capricornus. At the western end of its roof-shaped asterism lies a brilliant naked-eye double star, Alpha (α) Capricorni (RA 20h 18m, dec. –12° 33’).

This mag. +3.8 and +4.2 yellow pair are 6 arcminutes apart. Include nearby Beta (β) Capricorni (2.3° south-southeast) to see a double-double star!

Beta has mag. +3.0 (yellow) and +6.0 (white) components, 3.3 arcminutes apart.

A small scope reveals Beta is actually a triple, with a mag. +9.0 star 3.7 arcminutes from the brightest member, together all forming a dog-leg shape.

Capricornus also hosts the fine globular cluster M30 (RA 21h 40.3m, dec. –23° 11’).

This seventh-magnitude cluster has a broad (4-arcminute), evenly bright core with a twinkling of stars, surrounded by a narrow, irregular halo thinning into the surrounding star field.

Southern Hemisphere Star Charts

Access this month's and all previous star charts for the Southern Hemisphere by clicking on the links below.

Best things to see in the Southern Hemisphere sky, September 2025

Total lunar eclipse

Stars and constellations

Planets

Deep-sky objects

Southern Hemisphere Star Charts

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