Best things to see in the Southern Hemisphere 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

August 2026 highlights

In mid-August, Venus reaches greatest eastern elongation and, with the ecliptic making a steep angle to the horizon, climbs halfway to the zenith at sunset.

Watch the thin crescent Moon sneak up on the planet from below, starting from 14 August.

On 16 August, the thin four-day-old Moon lies less than 2° to the left of brilliant Venus, making a spectacular conjunction!

A small telescope shows Venus’s current phase to have a first quarter Moon shape.

Stars and constellations

Close to the northern horizon in the early evening is the bright star Vega in Lyra. To its west (left) is Hercules, with its distinctive trapezoid Keystone asterism.

Named after the top stone of an arch, its four third- to fourth-magnitude stars are Zeta (ζ) (brightest), then (going clockwise) Epsilon (ε), Pi (π) and Eta (η) Herculis. If you have some understanding of architecture, you’ll notice it looks strange.

It was named from the Northern Hemisphere – we from down under see it upside down.

Southern hemisphere planets

Venus still dominates the western early evening sky. As it departs at 21:00, planetary action switches eastward with the arrival of Neptune, then Saturn an hour later. Both transit around two hours before dawn.

Uranus rises around 02:00, followed by Mars about two hours later.

Mercury has a poor morning apparition, rising at the start of dawn as August opens and lost in the Sun’s glare by mid-month. Jupiter returns to the morning, rising in the early dawn as August closes.

Deep-sky

Below the Teapot of Sagittarius is an 8° semicircle of stars marking Corona Australis, the Southern Crown.

Near its eastern end, 0.5° north of Epsilon (ε) CrA, lies the bright cluster NGC 6723 (RA 18h 59.5m, dec. –36° 38’).

This seventh-magnitude globular shows a halo with a broad core that brightens at the centre.

In the same low-power (50x) field, 0.5° southeast is a striking double‑double star. HD 176386 consists of mag. +7.3 and +9.4 components, 57 arcseconds apart.

The other is two sixth-magnitude stars HR 7169/70, 13 arcseconds apart. These doubles are 0.2° apart, each lying within bright reflection nebulae.

Between these glowing gas clouds and extending southeast is a dark nebula, a starless void in a rich star field. A stunning sight!

Best things to see in the Southern Hemisphere sky, August 2026

More guides

August 2026 highlights

Stars and constellations

Southern hemisphere planets

Deep-sky

Southern hemisphere star charts