Live Sky Report
What Can I See in the Sky Tonight in Polotsk, Vitebsk, Belarus?
New Moon moon at 0%, Venus shines at magnitude -4.4. Calculated for 55.49°, 28.79° (Europe/Minsk).
Visible planets tonight
Venus, Jupiter, Mercury, Saturn, Mars — brightest: Venus at mag -4.4 in Virgo
🔭 Tonight's Sky Report
📍 Polotsk, Vitebsk, Belarus — Thursday, August 13
Tonight's sky above Polotsk, Vitebsk, Belarus
Whether tonight is a good night for stargazing from Polotsk, Vitebsk, Belarus comes down to four real things: the Moon phase, cloud cover, which planets are up, and the current Kp index.
Above Polotsk, Vitebsk, Belarus tonight (55.49°, 28.79°), expect a new moon moon at 0% illumination. The night gives 2.7 hours of true astronomical darkness. At 55.5°, aurora needs a strong storm — roughly Kp 3.7 or higher — to reach Polotsk, Vitebsk, Belarus.
Local sky character in Polotsk
Northern mid-latitudes · northern hemisphere · 126 m elevation
- The north celestial pole stands 55.5° above the horizon, so stars within 56° of it never set from here.
- About 91.2% of the whole sky rises above the horizon at some point in the year from this latitude.
- The Milky Way's core in Sagittarius culminates about 5.5° up, staying low, so a clear southern horizon matters.
- At 126 m elevation, roughly 1% of the atmosphere's mass is already below you, which measurably reduces extinction near the horizon.
Polotsk is a town-scale settlement, so the edge of the built-up area is often dark enough for the Milky Way on moonless nights.
Best nights this month in Polotsk
Calculated for these coordinates and today's date — not a fixed list.
- 2026-08-13 — Darkest 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 Polotsk, Vitebsk, Belarus.
- 2026-08-28 — Full 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.
Polotsk, Vitebsk, Belarus stargazing questions
- What can I see in the sky tonight from Polotsk, Vitebsk, Belarus?
- Tonight from Polotsk, Vitebsk, Belarus expect a new moon Moon at 0% illumination, with these naked-eye planets above the horizon after dark: Venus, Jupiter, Mercury, Saturn, Mars. The night offers about 2.7 hours of true astronomical darkness.
- How likely are the northern lights in Polotsk, Vitebsk, Belarus?
- Polotsk, Vitebsk, Belarus sits at 55.5° N, inside the latitude range the auroral oval reaches on ordinary active nights — the oval sits near 58° geomagnetic latitude at Kp 3. A stronger disturbance — around Kp 3.7 — is still needed for the display to reach overhead.
- What time of night is best for aurora watching in Polotsk, Vitebsk, Belarus?
- 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 the window is longest around the winter months.
- Do I need to leave Polotsk, Vitebsk, Belarus to see the aurora?
- Polotsk, Vitebsk, Belarus 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 Polotsk, Vitebsk, Belarus tonight?
- About 2.7 hours of astronomical darkness (Sun more than 18° below the horizon). That is the real observing window for faint objects; brighter targets are workable from dusk onward.
Nearby cities
Real great-circle distance from Polotsk, Vitebsk, Belarus.
More in Vitebsk
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Sky tonight across Belarus
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