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What Can I See in the Sky Tonight in Iqaluit, Nunavut, Canada?

New Moon moon at 0%, Venus shines at magnitude -4.4. Calculated for 63.75°, -68.52° (America/Iqaluit).

Moon
New Moon
0% lit
Sunset
8:53 PM
Dusk
Dark hours
Dawn
Aurora
Possible
Belt 58°

Visible planets tonight

Venus, Jupiter, Mercury, Saturn, Mars — brightest: Venus at mag -4.4 in Virgo

🔭 Tonight's Sky Report

📍 Iqaluit, Nunavut, Canada Thursday, August 13

Stargazing
🌙 MoonNew Moon • 0% Illumination
🪐 Visible planetsMars, Saturn
🌠 Meteor activityDraconids in 57 days
🌌 Milky WayVisible after dark, low moonlight
🛰️ ISSLoading…
🌈 Aurora
☁️ Cloud cover
🌡️ Temperature

Tonight's sky above Iqaluit, Nunavut, Canada

Whether tonight is a good night for stargazing from Iqaluit, Nunavut, Canada comes down to four real things: the Moon phase, cloud cover, which planets are up, and the current Kp index.

Above Iqaluit, Nunavut, Canada tonight (63.75°, -68.52°), expect a new moon moon at 0% illumination. At 63.7°, aurora is possible from here whenever Kp climbs above quiet baseline.

Local sky character in Iqaluit

Northern high latitudes · northern hemisphere · 14 m elevation

  • The north celestial pole stands 63.7° above the horizon, so stars within 64° of it never set from here.
  • About 94.8% of the whole sky rises above the horizon at some point in the year from this latitude.
  • The Galactic Centre never rises from this latitude, so the brightest stretch of the Milky Way stays permanently below the horizon.
  • At 14 m elevation, roughly 0% of the atmosphere's mass is already below you, which measurably reduces extinction near the horizon.
  • Above 64° the observing year is strongly seasonal: mid-summer nights may never reach astronomical darkness, while mid-winter delivers very long dark windows.
Pole altitude
63.7°
Sky reachable
94.8%
Milky Way core
Never rises
Aurora borealis
Reachable

Iqaluit is small enough that local light domes are limited — on a clear, moonless night the Milky Way is realistically within reach.

Best nights this month in Iqaluit

Calculated for these coordinates and today's date — not a fixed list.

  • 2026-08-13Darkest night of the coming month

    The Moon is only 0% illuminated, giving the least lunar interference in the next 30 nights — the best window for the Milky Way and faint deep-sky targets from Iqaluit, Nunavut, Canada.

  • 2026-08-28Full Moon

    A 100%-lit Moon washes out faint objects, but lunar terrain along the limb is at its most striking — plan bright targets and planets instead of deep sky.

Iqaluit, Nunavut, Canada stargazing questions

What can I see in the sky tonight from Iqaluit, Nunavut, Canada?
Tonight from Iqaluit, Nunavut, Canada expect a new moon Moon at 0% illumination, with these naked-eye planets above the horizon after dark: Venus, Jupiter, Mercury, Saturn, Mars. At this latitude the Sun may not drop 18° below the horizon tonight, so full astronomical darkness is not reached.
How likely are the northern lights in Iqaluit, Nunavut, Canada?
Iqaluit, Nunavut, Canada sits at 63.7° N, inside the latitude range the auroral oval reaches on ordinary active nights — the oval sits near 58° geomagnetic latitude at Kp 3. That means aurora is a realistic prospect here whenever geomagnetic activity lifts above the quiet baseline, not only during major storms.
What time of night is best for aurora watching in Iqaluit, Nunavut, Canada?
Auroral substorms cluster around local magnetic midnight, so the hours either side of midnight are statistically strongest. You also need real darkness: this page's dusk and dawn times mark the usable window, and in mid-summer that window can close entirely at this latitude.
Do I need to leave Iqaluit, Nunavut, Canada to see the aurora?
Iqaluit, Nunavut, Canada is small enough that local sky glow is not the limiting factor; a clear view toward the northern horizon and clear weather matter more.
How dark does it actually get in Iqaluit, Nunavut, Canada tonight?
Iqaluit, Nunavut, Canada is far enough from the equator that at this time of year the Sun stays above −18°, so astronomical darkness is not reached tonight — a normal feature of high-latitude summers, not a data error.

Nearby cities

Real great-circle distance from Iqaluit, Nunavut, Canada.

Sky tonight across Canada

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