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Live forecast · Open-Meteo · updated 28 min ago

45Mixed
Night grade

Fri, Oct 16 · Sample site — Tucson, AZ (not your location) · Choose your site

Worth a short session

Best window 01:00–03:00 · 2h at excellent quality

What limits it
☁ Cloud100% cloud cover
Astronomical dark
19:11–05:079h 56m dark
Estimated imaging time
2h 00macross 1 window
Moon
Waxing crescent37% lit · Up 19:00-21:00

What the grade is made ofweighted to 45

  • Weather2×35%cloud cover high; wind elevated
  • Darkness100×25%9h 56m darkestimated
  • Moon impact53×20%37% moon mid-skyestimated
  • Site quality22×15%Estimated SQM 18.1 (Bortle 7) from the light-pollution atlasestimated
  • Freshness100×5%Live forecast current

This grade describes the night at this site. It does not move with the target: choosing one changes the window, the limiting factor and the altitude reading below, not this number.

30°60°90°0°SHOOT 01:00–03:00 · 2hDaylightAstronomical darkDaylight17:0018:0019:0020:0021:0022:0023:0000:0001:0002:0003:0004:0005:0006:0007:00

What limits each hour, and by how much

SkyDaylightAstronomical darkDaylightImaging quality0–100 indexusableBEST 01:00–03:00 · 2hWhat limits itstacked penalty◐ Twilight☁ Cloud≋ Wind☁ Cloud◐ Twilight17:0019:0021:0023:0001:0003:0005:0007:00Cloudlimits the night0–100 %100%Wind0–50 km/h29 km/h25 km/h limitDew margin-2–16 °C23.1°Cdew risk below 2°CTemp-10–40 °C17°CSeeing (est.)17:00 — Seeing poor · ~3.3″ (2.5–4.3″)18:00 — Seeing poor · ~3.3″ (2.5–4.3″)19:00 — Seeing poor · ~3.3″ (2.5–4.3″)20:00 — Seeing poor · ~2.7″ (2.0–3.5″)21:00 — Seeing poor · ~2.7″ (2.0–3.5″)22:00 — Seeing poor · ~2.7″ (2.0–3.5″)23:00 — Seeing poor · ~2.7″ (2.0–3.5″)00:00 — Seeing poor · ~2.7″ (2.0–3.5″)01:00 — Seeing poor · ~2.7″ (2.0–3.5″)02:00 — Seeing poor · ~3.2″ (2.4–4.2″)03:00 — Seeing poor · ~3.2″ (2.4–4.2″)04:00 — Seeing poor · ~3.2″ (2.4–4.2″)05:00 — Seeing poor · ~3.3″ (2.5–4.3″)06:00 — Seeing poor · ~3.3″ (2.5–4.3″)07:00 — Seeing poor · ~3.3″ (2.5–4.3″)Transparency (est.)17:00 — Transparency good · ~0.21 mag/airmass · thin high cloud likely18:00 — Transparency good · ~0.21 mag/airmass · thin high cloud likely19:00 — Transparency good · ~0.21 mag/airmass · thin high cloud likely20:00 — Transparency good · ~0.21 mag/airmass · thin high cloud likely21:00 — Transparency good · ~0.21 mag/airmass · thin high cloud likely22:00 — Transparency good · ~0.21 mag/airmass · thin high cloud likely23:00 — Transparency excellent · ~0.19 mag/airmass · thin high cloud possible00:00 — Transparency excellent · ~0.19 mag/airmass · thin high cloud possible01:00 — Transparency excellent · ~0.19 mag/airmass · thin high cloud possible02:00 — Transparency good · ~0.21 mag/airmass · thin high cloud likely03:00 — Transparency good · ~0.21 mag/airmass · thin high cloud likely04:00 — Transparency good · ~0.21 mag/airmass · thin high cloud likely05:00 — Transparency good · ~0.22 mag/airmass · thin high cloud likely06:00 — Transparency good · ~0.22 mag/airmass · thin high cloud likely07:00 — Transparency good · ~0.22 mag/airmass · thin high cloud likelyAltitude0–90° above horizon30°60°25° usable floorMoon 37% · peak 24°
LanesCloud %Wind km/hDew margin °CTemp °C
Limiting factors☁ Cloud≋ Wind◍ Dew▼ Rain☾ Moon◐ Twilight

Pick a target

Conditions become target-specific: altitude, airmass, Moon distance and the window where they all line up.

Search by Messier number (M31), NGC / IC designation, common name, or documented RA/Dec.

Worst hour of the night

19:00

0PoorAstro twilight

Why

  • ☁ Cloud100% cloud cover−81
  • ≋ Wind37 kph, over the 25 kph guiding limit−26
  • ◐ TwilightAstronomical twilight — not fully dark−25
  • ☾ Moon37% Moon at 24°−5
Cloud
100%
Wind
37 km/h
Dew margin
25.4°C
Temp
22°C
Humidity
18%
Wind from
E
Dew pointForecast
-3.4°C
Cloud low / mid / high
0% / 5% / 100%
Moon altitude
24°
Seeing (est.)
poor · ~3.3″ (2.5–4.3″)
Transparency (est.)
good · ~0.21 mag/airmass · thin high cloud likely
Jet stream
34 m/s · seeing changes quickly
Source
Seeing and transparency: AstroBrain estimate from NOAA GFS and Copernicus CAMS data via Open-Meteo (CC BY 4.0).

Next seven nights

Each strip is that night’s hourly quality, evening to morning.

Observing site

Sample site — Tucson, AZ (not your location)Nobody has chosen a site yet, so this is a built-in sample. Use your approximate area or enter a site to read your own sky.

Use for planning

How this was worked out

Times shown in Tucson, AZ time (America/Phoenix).

Estimated night score (0–100). Higher scores mean fewer limits from cloud, wind, dew, rain, moonlight and target altitude. Windows are runs of hours that stay usable; a bad hour splits them.

No rig is set up, so nothing rig-specific is applied. The wind threshold is the generic 25 km/h.

Build sequence
Data sources and caveats
Weather
open-meteo · open-data-aws · Live forecast current
Darkness & Moon
Astronomical twilight calculated for this location.
Site quality
Derived from the light-pollution atlas — approximate
  • Open-Meteo does not measure astronomical seeing or transparency. Values shown here are AstroBrain estimates.
  • Forecast age is based on when it was retrieved.
  • This is a derived estimate, not a measured or manual reading.
  • Add a measured SQM or manual Bortle to refine it.
  • Site quality is a rough estimate.
  • Seeing and transparency are AstroBrain estimates, not weather-provider measurements.