Tonight's stargazing conditions scored 0–100 for cities across Australia and New Zealand — from Sydney and Melbourne to Queenstown under the southern sky. Find the clearest skies near you, then open the full forecast.
Oceania offers some of the finest southern-hemisphere stargazing on the planet. ClearSkys scores each location below for tonight using cloud cover, moon phase, wind and humidity. The southern sky brings the Magellanic Clouds, the bright galactic core overhead, and the Southern Cross — all invisible from the northern hemisphere. Australia's vast interior holds enormous dark-sky areas, and New Zealand's Aoraki Mackenzie is one of the largest International Dark Sky Reserves in the world.
New Zealand's Aoraki Mackenzie Dark Sky Reserve is among the largest in the world. In Australia, the vast Outback offers pristine dark skies, and several official Dark Sky Parks exist. Both countries have outstanding southern-sky observing.
The southern sky offers the Magellanic Clouds, the galactic centre passing high overhead, the Southern Cross, Alpha and Beta Centauri, and the rich star fields of Carina and Sagittarius — many of the sky's best deep-sky objects are southern.
The southern-hemisphere winter (May-September) places the bright Milky Way core high overhead and offers long nights. Australia's dry interior is clear for much of the year; New Zealand's conditions vary more with maritime weather.