Milky Way Calendar 2026

These are the months when the core is up for most of the dark hours. At mid-northern latitudes (35°–45°N), a dark night gives you roughly four to six hours with the core above the horizon, and it goes from a low arch in May to a near-vertical band by July. Lower-latitude locations like Mauna Kea and Tenerife get the longest windows. For this year, the longest run of Excellent Saturdays at Moab, Denver, and Atacama Desert sits in July. In the Southern Hemisphere the core passes nearly overhead from the Atacama and the Namib Desert, and that's where it looks brightest and most detailed.

The core is already up when it gets dark, low in the south and drifting toward the southwest through the evening, and it sets a little earlier each week. A lot of photographers like this stretch because you can shoot right after astronomical twilight ends without staying up until 2 AM. Northern locations like Jasper and Cherry Springs get longer, darker nights back after the short summer ones. Watch August for Moab, Denver, and Atacama Desert, since that's when this year's grid has the most Saturdays rated Excellent. Down south, Aoraki Mackenzie and Torres del Paine have the core high in the evening sky while their nights shorten toward spring.

By October the core is low in the southwest at dusk and sets soon after full darkness, and by December the Northern Hemisphere has almost nothing left to work with. The Southern Hemisphere holds on a little longer. From the Atacama and Aoraki Mackenzie the core is still in the western sky after dark into November, then it drops out there too. Even this late, the grid shows the most Excellent Saturdays at Atacama Desert in November. This is a good time to plan next year's shoots, book travel to dark-sky destinations, and start planning with our 2027 calendar.