Globe at Night is an international citizen-science campaign to raise public awareness of the impact of light pollution by inviting citizen-scientists to measure & submit their night sky brightness observations.
Hercules the hero of Greece can be best seen by looking up and to the North in the summer. Find the brightest star Vega by looking North, then by looking just west of that you can make out the keystone, or body, of Hercules. The head of Hercules will be to the South, and his kneeling legs will be pointing northward.
Visible in: Northern hemisphere
Cygnus the Swan is easy to find as it flies south along the path of the Milky Way. It is easiest to spot by looking straight up and looking for the three brightest stars forming what is known as the Summer Triangle. The bright star in the lower left of this triangle is Deneb, the tail of the swan. By using this star and looking in toward the center of the triangle, you can now spot Cygnus.
Visible in: Northern hemisphere
Sagittarius the Centaur is most easily found looking South and following the Milky Way up in the Mid-Summer. It is easiest to spot Scorpius and looking just to the left and see that Sagittarius is pointing his bow and arrow at Antares the heart of Scorpius. The most prominent feature of Sagittarius is the arrangement of the body that resembles what many point out to be a teapot. The legs of Sagittarius extend below the teapot to the South and the cape extends in the opposite direction of his bow.
Visible in: Southern hemisphere
Scorpius like Sagittarius is most easily found looking south toward the Milky Way and following it upward. It is easiest to find Scorpius by looking for what looks like a fish hooks of bright stars. At the center of this hook is what visually looks like a bright red star. This is often mistaken for Mars being visually red, but this is the Red Giant star Antares which is the heart of Scorpius. The body of Scorpius is what looks like the fish hook, with the tail as the hook and the head and pincers of Scorpius being at the opposite end making a three pronged end point away from Sagittarius.
Visible in: Southern hemisphere
Practice finding all the Globe at Night Constellations, when you are done practicing follow the 6 steps:
Globe at Night is truly an international campaign. Our Activity Guides, Postcards, and the data reporting webapp have been translated into many languages. These are all available to download from our Resources page.
Whether you use a smartphone, tablet or computer, you can submit your data in real time with our webapp - now available in 28 languages! Help us make 2025 a record year!
We invite you to join us as we discover the night together and learn about the harmful effects of light pollution and what we can do to embrace the dark and save the night. April 21-28, 2025. Learn more at idsw.darksky.org
See how your region is doing this year below. If you don't see very many data points, consider going outside tonight and contributing your own! Compare to other regions or previous years with our regional map generator.