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.

More guides

Southern Hemipshere stargazing
Best night-sky targets to see in Australia
Australian astrophotography

The Strawberry Moon captured by Taran Sohal over Byron Bay Lighthouse, New South Wales, Australia, 11 June 2025, 16:41 local time. Equipment: Sony A7 IV camera, Sony 200-600mm f/5.6 lens, Sirui tripod. Exposure: Single exposure at f/11, ISO 320, shutter 1/100. Processing: Adobe Photoshop 2025 — Credit: Taran Sohal

Jupiter and its moons

Watching Jupiter’s four bright moons is fascinating. Possibly the most interesting is watching one go into or out of eclipse as it passes through Jupiter’s shadow.

Two such events are visible this month from Australia's eastern states. On 4 February, Callisto reappears at 22:20 AEST, almost making an equilateral triangle with Ganymede and Io.

On 11 February, Io reappears at 21:00 AEST. Both events make an attractive sight, with all four moons sitting on one side of Jupiter.

Stars and constellations

Did you know only a few of the most prominent stars in the sky shine brightly because they’re close to Earth?

Of the 30 brightest, only three lie within 12 lightyears. The closest is Alpha Centauri (4.3 lightyears), one of the pointers to Crux, now rising in the southeast.

The others – Sirius (8.6 lightyears) and Procyon (11.4 lightyears) – are the alpha stars of Orion’s hunting dogs (Canis Major and Canis Minor) and form the Winter Triangle with Betelgeuse, Orion’s alpha star.

The planets

Venus returns to the western evening sky, but remains low in the Sun’s glare this month.

Early evenings see Saturn drop into the west, setting around the end of twilight as February closes. Neptune remains its companion, sitting just 1° away mid-month.

Uranus is now an evening-only object, setting before midnight. Jupiter remains well placed, due north as twilight ends, setting in the early morning.

Turning to the morning, Mars makes its return but remains immersed in the bright dawn glow.

Deep-sky objects

This month, a trip to Gemini to seek out a couple of colourful double stars. 38 Geminorum (RA 06h 54.6m, dec. +13° 11’) has mag. +4.7 and +7.8 components separated by 7.3 arcseconds which show great contrast: one yellow, one light blue.

Kappa (κ) Geminorum (RA 07h 44.4m, dec. +24° 24’), with mag. +3.7 and +8.2 stars separated by 7 arcseconds, needs good power to resolve (150x) but it’s worth it to see its striking orange and blue colours.

Now, we turn to the open star cluster NGC 2129 (RA 06h 01.0m, dec. +23° 18’). Though overshadowed by its brilliant neighbour M35, it has its own charms.

Through binoculars, this small cluster (5 arcminutes across) is a haze centred on two stars (mag. +7.3 and +8.3). A telescope shows six 10th- and 11th-magnitude stars in a Pleiades-like arrangement, surrounded by around two dozen fainter stars scattered haphazardly.

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, February 2026