How to Set Your Observing Location on TheSkyLive

Updated

TheSkyLive asks you to set an observing location so it can show precisely what is visible in your night sky. You have three options: Autodetect Location, Set Location Manually, or Don't Set Location. If you skip this step, the site defaults to Greenwich, UK, and visibility information plus star map automatic orientation may be off. Setting a location is therefore the first thing to do if you want planet, comet, or asteroid visibility data that matches where you actually are.

Why the location step matters

TheSkyLive's visibility tools — Planets Visible Tonight, Comets Visible Tonight, Asteroids Visible Tonight, and What is Visible Now? — depend on your position on Earth. The same object can be above the horizon for one observer and below it for another at the same moment.

Without a location, the site falls back to Greenwich, UK, and warns that "visibility information and star map automatic orientation might be off." The star map's automatic orientation is also tied to your location, so an unset location can rotate or flip the view relative to your real sky.

The three options

When the location prompt appears, you choose one of:

Option What it does When to use it
Autodetect Location Uses your device/browser location to determine where you are Fastest path if you are observing from your current position and are willing to share location
Set Location Manually Lets you enter a location yourself Best when you are planning for a different site, or do not want to share device location
Don't Set Location Proceeds with the Greenwich, UK default Only if approximate data is acceptable; the site states data might be off

The prompt itself notes: "Please set your location so we can show precisely what's visible in your night sky."

What you see after setting a location

Once a location is set, the site displays a summary block for that place. In the example shown for Greenwich, UK, it includes:

  • Location name — Greenwich, UK
  • Timezone — Europe/London
  • Sunrise — 6:46
  • Transit — 12:52
  • Sunset — 18:58

This confirms which location and timezone the rest of the site is using. If the name or timezone is wrong, your visibility data will be wrong too, so it is worth checking this block before trusting any "visible tonight" result.

Step-by-step

  1. Open TheSkyLive. If no location is stored, the site shows "Getting location..." and then the Set Location prompt.
  2. Choose Autodetect Location if you want the site to determine your position automatically, or Set Location Manually if you prefer to enter it yourself.
  3. If you choose manual entry, provide your observing site, then confirm.
  4. If you would rather not set anything, choose Don't Set Location (I understand data might be off) — the site will use Greenwich, UK.
  5. Verify the result: check that the displayed location name, timezone, sunrise, transit, and sunset match your expectations.
  6. Proceed to the visibility tools — Planets, Comets, Asteroids — or the Sky: Now / Tonight views, which now reflect your chosen location.

Common pitfalls

  • Leaving the default in place. If you never set a location, every visibility figure is computed for Greenwich, UK. This is the single most common reason the data looks wrong.
  • Autodetect picking the wrong place. Device location can resolve to a nearby city or a different timezone than your actual observing site. If the summary block shows the wrong name or timezone, switch to manual entry.
  • Planning for a remote site. Autodetect reflects where you are now, not where you will observe. Use manual entry for a future or distant location.
  • Forgetting that orientation follows location. The star map's automatic orientation is location-dependent, so an incorrect location can make the map harder to match against the real sky even when the object list looks plausible.

What the location affects

Setting your observing location feeds the site's core visibility and sky views, including:

  • Visibility lists — Planets, Comets, Asteroids
  • Sky views — Now and Tonight
  • Star map orientation — the automatic orientation of the interactive maps
  • Reference times — sunrise, transit, and sunset for your site

The location prompt is also reachable later through the Set Observing Location entry under the site's Tools section, so you can change it whenever your observing site changes.