Stars Tonight in Calgary, AB, Canada
True darkness in Calgary, AB, Canada runs from about 7:55 PM MDT to 6:45 AM MDT. The Moon is 🌘 waning crescent, 0% lit.
Brightest stars after dark
Position at 9 pm local time, calculated for 51.04°, -114.07°.
- Vega (Lyra): look W, halfway up the sky (36° up)
- Capella (Auriga): look NE, halfway up the sky (38° up)
- Altair (Aquila): look W, low near the horizon (26° up)
- Aldebaran (Taurus): look E, low near the horizon (24° up)
- Deneb (Cygnus): look W, halfway up the sky (59° up)
- Polaris (Ursa Minor): look N, halfway up the sky (52° up)
Making the most of the night sky from Calgary, AB, Canada
Stars do not move relative to each other, but the whole sky turns as Earth rotates and shifts through the year as Earth orbits the Sun. That is why the brightest stars listed here change from month to month, and why a star that is overhead at 9 pm in winter is gone by summer. The positions above are worked out from your latitude and the time, so they hold for Calgary, AB, Canada specifically.
Give your eyes 20 minutes. Dark adaptation takes about that long, and a single glance at a phone screen resets it. Use a red light if you need to read a chart. Away from streetlights and with no Moon, you can see several thousand stars; under city lights, a few hundred.
To put names to what you see, open the interactive star map or the guide to all 88 constellations. For planets, meteors and the Milky Way tonight, see the Sky Tonight hub, and for the Moon's schedule here, the Moon page for Calgary, AB, Canada.
Questions
When is it fully dark in Calgary, AB, Canada tonight?
Astronomical darkness, when the Sun is more than 18° below the horizon, begins at about 7:55 PM MDT and ends at about 6:45 AM MDT in Calgary, AB, Canada. That is the best window for faint stars and the Milky Way.
What phase is the Moon over Calgary, AB, Canada tonight?
The Moon is waning crescent, about 0% illuminated. A bright Moon washes out faint stars, so the darkest star-gazing happens around new Moon.
What are the brightest stars to look for from Calgary, AB, Canada?
Around 9 pm local time the brightest well-placed stars include Vega (W, mid-sky), Capella (NE, mid-sky), Altair (W, low), Aldebaran (E, low).