Stargazing Forecast Tonight, Hourly Clouds, Moon & Dark Skies

Q: Is tonight good for stargazing?

Enter your ZIP above. The score combines Open-Meteo's hourly cloud cover for 8 pm–5 am at your location, the moon's illumination tonight, humidity (haze and dew), and how many hours of full darkness you get. 8+ is excellent; under 4 means wait for another night or drive to clearer sky.

Q: What is a stargazing forecast?

A night-sky forecast that goes beyond "clear or cloudy": cloud cover hour by hour, transparency (how much haze and moisture is in the air), the moon, and darkness. Seeing (atmospheric steadiness) matters for telescopes on planets; for the Milky Way, meteors and aurora, transparency and darkness matter far more.

Q: How much does the moon matter for stargazing?

A lot. A full moon raises the sky background enough to hide the Milky Way from even a Bortle 2 site. Plan Milky Way and meteor nights for the week around new moon, or for after moonset — the score here already accounts for tonight's phase.

Q: What is the Bortle scale?

A 1–9 rating of night-sky darkness from pristine (1) to inner city (9). Each dark-sky site on this page carries an estimated Bortle class; anything 1–3 shows the Milky Way well, 4 is fine for meteors and bright aurora, and 5+ means you are fighting light pollution.

Q: Where is the best stargazing near me?

Start with the 20-site list on this page — the darkest publicly accessible spots on our curated list — then open your state's northern-lights page, which names 3–5 dark-sky sites with coordinates. The same dark, north-facing spots work for the Milky Way and meteor showers.

Q: What time of year is best for stargazing in the US?

The Milky Way core is best from late spring to early autumn (evening sky in July–August); winter gives the longest, driest, most transparent nights and the bright Orion region. Autumn has the bonus of aurora season in the northern states and the Orionid, Leonid and Geminid showers.

Q: When can I see the Milky Way?

From a Bortle 1–3 site on a moonless night: the bright galactic core rises in the pre-dawn hours in March, is up all evening in July–August, and sets in the early evening by October. The fainter winter Milky Way through Orion and Gemini is visible on clear December–February nights.

How the score works

What makes a night good for stargazing

Cloud cover, hour by hour

The average from 8 pm to 5 am drives the score, but the hourly strip matters more for planning — many nights clear after midnight.

The moon

Costs up to 4 points at full. A crescent that sets early is nearly free; check the phase name for which.

Transparency

High humidity means haze, dew on optics, and a soft sky near the horizon. Dry post-frontal air is what astronomers wait for.

Hours of darkness

Full darkness starts about 90 minutes after sunset. June nights in the north barely get there; December gives 14 hours.

Where to go

20 dark-sky sites, ranked by estimated Bortle class

These are the darkest entries on our list — the publicly accessible sites named on the 50 state northern-lights pages — ranked by estimated Bortle class, with certified DarkSky places breaking ties. The list leans toward the northern tier; the desert Southwest holds many of the country’s darkest skies and is thinly represented. Coordinates link to the state page for directions, tonight’s cloud cover at the site, and the aurora threshold.

#	Site	State	Est. Bortle	Certification	Why
1	Big Bend National Park 29.25, -103.25	Texas	1	DarkSky Park	A DarkSky Park since 2012, with the least light pollution of any National Park unit in the lower 48 — superb for the Milky Way.
2	Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness 47.95, -90.85	Minnesota	1	DarkSky Sanctuary	A DarkSky Sanctuary since 2020 and, at about a million acres, the second largest in the world after Oregon Outback — with no roads or lights inside it.
3	Central Idaho Dark Sky Reserve, Stanley 44.22, -114.93	Idaho	1	DarkSky Reserve	The first DarkSky Reserve in the US (2017), Gold tier — the Sawtooths under a pristine sky.
4	Chaco Culture National Historical Park 36.06, -107.96	New Mexico	1	DarkSky Park	Certified DarkSky Park with its own observatory and night-sky program.
5	Cosmic Campground, Gila National Forest 33.48, -108.92	New Mexico	1	DarkSky Sanctuary	The first DarkSky Sanctuary in the United States (2016).
6	Death Valley National Park 36.46, -116.87	California	1	DarkSky Park	Gold-tier DarkSky Park; world-class Milky Way, rarely aurora.
7	Dinosaur National Monument, Canyon Visitor Center 40.24, -108.97	Colorado	1	DarkSky Park	The Colorado side of a DarkSky Park that straddles the state line; the Canyon Visitor Center and Harpers Corner Road are very dark and very remote. Coordinates approximate.
8	Dinosaur National Monument, Quarry Visitor Center 40.44, -109.31	Utah	1	DarkSky Park	The Utah side of the DarkSky Park that straddles the Colorado line, near Jensen.
9	Great Basin National Park 39.01, -114.22	Nevada	1	DarkSky Park	Certified DarkSky Park with an astronomy festival each September.
10	Massacre Rim Wilderness Study Area 41.65, -119.70	Nevada	1	DarkSky Sanctuary	DarkSky Sanctuary (2019) in the far northwest — one of the darkest places in the lower 48.
11	Medicine Rocks State Park 46.05, -104.47	Montana	1	DarkSky Sanctuary	A DarkSky Sanctuary (2020) of sandstone pillars in the southeast corner.
12	Natural Bridges National Monument 37.60, -110.00	Utah	1	DarkSky Park	The world's first DarkSky Park (2007); the Milky Way here is as good as it gets.
13	Oregon Outback International Dark Sky Sanctuary, Lake County 42.55, -120.30	Oregon	1	DarkSky Sanctuary	The largest DarkSky Sanctuary in the world (2024) — 2.5 million acres of high desert.
14	Agate Fossil Beds National Monument 42.42, -103.73	Nebraska	1	—	High-plains monument in the panhandle with a clean 360° horizon.
15	Black Mesa State Park 36.86, -102.88	Oklahoma	1	—	Oklahoma's highest and darkest point, home of the Okie-Tex Star Party.
16	Black Rock Desert playa 40.90, -119.10	Nevada	1	—	A flat 360° horizon with no lights — outside Burning Man week.
17	Crater Lake National Park 42.94, -122.10	Oregon	1	—	A 7,000-ft rim with a pristine sky; the north rim faces away from the caldera.
18	Denali National Park, Park Road 63.73, -148.92	Alaska	1	—	Denali's autumn aurora season runs from late August; the Savage River area is accessible by car.
19	Eagle Lake, Allagash region 47.05, -68.62	Maine	1	—	Deep in the North Woods; about as dark as the eastern US gets.
20	Fort Peck Lake 48.00, -106.42	Montana	1	—	Hi-Line prairie reservoir with nothing north but Saskatchewan.

The Milky Way over the Chisos Mountains in Big Bend National Park, Texas — a certified DarkSky Park and among the darkest skies in the contiguous United States. “Night Sky Over Chisos Mountains (de3b5b2d-7015-4ca5-871b-4da5a8858774)” — NPS Photo — Public domain

Reading the sky

The Bortle scale in plain language

Class	Sky	What you see
1	Excellent dark sky	Zodiacal light and airglow visible; the Milky Way casts shadows. Big Bend, the Nebraska Sandhills, Massacre Rim.
2	Typical truly dark site	Milky Way richly structured; clouds appear as dark holes. Most certified DarkSky Parks and Sanctuaries.
3	Rural sky	Some light domes on the horizon; Milky Way still detailed overhead. Most state parks an hour from a mid-size city.
4	Rural / suburban transition	Milky Way visible but washed out low down; fine for meteor showers and bright aurora.
5–6	Suburban	Milky Way faint or absent; only bright meteors and strong aurora show.
7–9	Urban	Planets, the moon and the brightest stars. Drive.

Bortle classes on this site are estimates from light-pollution atlases and certification tiers, not measurements.

Through the year

What's up, season by season

Summer: the Milky Way core

July–August evenings put Sagittarius and the galactic core due south, and the Perseids peak August 12–13. Check the meteor calendar for the moon phase in a given year — it decides the night.

Autumn: aurora season + showers

Equinox storms bring the northern lights to the northern tier; the Orionids (Oct 21), Leonids (Nov 17) and early-dark evenings make it the busiest season.

Winter: the clearest nights

Orion, the Pleiades and the richest showers of all — the Geminids (Dec 13–14) and Quadrantids (Jan 3–4). Dry arctic air gives the best transparency of the year.

Common questions

Stargazing forecast FAQ

Is tonight good for stargazing?

What is a stargazing forecast?

How much does the moon matter for stargazing?

What is the Bortle scale?

Where is the best stargazing near me?

What time of year is best for stargazing in the US?

When can I see the Milky Way?

Cloud cover, humidity and sun times from Open-Meteo, read live in your browser; moon computed locally. Bortle classes shown here are estimates, not measurements. Hero image: “Night Sky Over Chisos Mountains (de3b5b2d-7015-4ca5-871b-4da5a8858774)” — NPS Photo — Public domain. Related: meteor shower tonight · northern lights tonight · aurora forecast by state.