Know when to look up. Know what you'll see.
Clear-sky forecasts, darkness and Moon times, planets, aurora, eclipses and space station passes for 31,842 places.
Joshua Tree, CA
Fair · Mostly clearWorth a look
Check the sky across the US and beyond
Start with a US forecast, or compare a supported city overseas. Check the local observing conditions before choosing a night.
Flagstaff
Stay in tonight
Moab
Stay in tonight
Joshua Tree
Workable skies with some compromise
New York
Stay in tonight
London
Stay in tonight
Sydney
Stay in tonight
01 · Darkness
When the sky actually gets dark
Sunset is not night. We calculate astronomical twilight (or the darkest twilight your latitude reaches) and show the real window.
02 · Moonlight
How much the Moon will wash out
A bright Moon can erase the Milky Way. We map rise, set, illumination, and the moonless windows inside the dark hours.
03 · Cloud
Weather at useful times
Read cloud samples through the observing night. We show their actual time resolution and flag old or incomplete forecasts.
Get an email for a promising night
Pick a city and a local delivery hour. Alerts use the site's observing score and current forecast.
Browse
Browse US states
Choose a state for its supported city forecasts. Each page uses the location's local observing night.
More countries to plan for
Browse by region. The full directory lists 31,842 cities and towns across 217 countries and territories.
Choose what to observe
Read about a target, check a place's visiting rules, or compare your observing options.
Objects to observe
Moon and planet detail, star clusters, nebulae and galaxies, with realistic equipment expectations.
Meteor showers
How to watch recurring showers and find reviewed year-specific planning dates.
Observing places
Official access sources and visiting notes for parks, reserves and observatories.
Compare locations
Put up to three locations side by side for the same local date and observing goal.
Learn the sky
Start here if you are new
Stargazing before midnight
Build an evening session that ends when you need it to, with targets that are already well placed.
Read the guide →Choose an observing time across midnight
Understand evening dates, repeated daylight-saving hours and local versus UTC times.
Read the guide →A first night under southern skies
Plan around southern targets without importing northern seasons, directions or pole-star advice.
Read the guide →