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Night Forecast

Weather
Observing Conditions.

Hour-by-hour night-window forecast built for observing, imaging, and planning around clouds, rain risk, visibility, dew spread, wind, humidity, and your active rig.

Excellent conditions
Observing Outlook

Excellent observing conditions expected

Night-window score reflects clouds, rain risk, visibility, dew risk, wind, and humidity. Clouds 0%, rain risk 3%, wind 7 mph.

86/100 Excellent Best: 7 PM – 9 PM
Choose Forecast Date
Su M T W Th F Sa
4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17
Forecast Location Chicago Area 41.878100, -87.629800 41.87810, -87.62980
Overall 86 Excellent
Clouds 0% Clear
Rain Risk 3% Max overnight
Visibility 12.0 mi Fair
Wind 7 mph Gusts 14 mph
Observatory Intelligence

No default rig selected

Add your telescope, focal length, and mount to unlock equipment-specific weather guidance.

Ephemeris can interpret wind, cloud layers, humidity, and dew risk differently for widefield, mid-focal, and long-focal-length setups.

Best Use Tonight General observing guidance
Avoid Tonight Rig-specific guidance unavailable
Improves After 7 PM
•
Visual Observing

General sky conditions are available now.

What makes an observing forecast different? →
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Deep Sky Imaging

Add a default rig for tailored guidance.

Why does rig data matter for imaging? →
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Planetary / Lunar

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Why does focal length change weather sensitivity? →
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Forecast Confidence

High Confidence

Forecast conditions are relatively stable across the night window.

2 forecast source active
  • Forecast sources active: 1
  • Alert sources active: 1
  • Cloud cover changes sharply during the night
  • Only one forecast model is currently available
Hour-by-Hour

Observing Window

2026-10-05 7 PM → next morning 6 AM
Time Score Outlook Clouds Low Mid High Rain Visibility Dew Spread Wind Humidity Temp
10/5 - 7 PM 88 Excellent 1% 1% 0% 0% 0% 14.5 mi 8.9°F 6 mph 72% 56°F
10/5 - 8 PM 88 Excellent 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 14.9 mi 9.2°F 6 mph 71% 55°F
10/5 - 9 PM 88 Excellent 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 14.0 mi 8.9°F 7 mph 72% 55°F
10/5 - 10 PM 88 Excellent 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 13.2 mi 8.2°F 8 mph 74% 55°F
10/5 - 11 PM 88 Excellent 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 12.3 mi 7.0°F 7 mph 77% 54°F
10/6 - 12 AM 85 Excellent 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 10.7 mi 5.4°F 8 mph 82% 53°F
10/6 - 1 AM 84 Excellent 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 11.6 mi 6.4°F 9 mph 79% 54°F
10/6 - 2 AM 85 Excellent 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 10.3 mi 5.0°F 8 mph 83% 53°F
10/6 - 3 AM 83 Excellent 1% 1% 0% 0% 1% 10.1 mi 4.6°F 7 mph 84% 51°F
10/6 - 4 AM 83 Excellent 1% 1% 0% 0% 2% 10.4 mi 4.6°F 7 mph 84% 50°F
10/6 - 5 AM 85 Excellent 0% 0% 0% 0% 3% 10.7 mi 5.2°F 7 mph 82% 49°F
10/6 - 6 AM 85 Excellent 0% 0% 0% 0% 3% 11.1 mi 5.2°F 6 mph 82% 47°F
Cloud Timeline

Cloud Cover by Hour

Each hour shows total cloud cover plus the split between low, mid, and high cloud layers.

Low Mid High
7 PM
1% Total
Low
1%
Mid
0%
High
0%
8 PM
0% Total
Low
0%
Mid
0%
High
0%
9 PM
0% Total
Low
0%
Mid
0%
High
0%
10 PM
0% Total
Low
0%
Mid
0%
High
0%
11 PM
0% Total
Low
0%
Mid
0%
High
0%
12 AM
0% Total
Low
0%
Mid
0%
High
0%
1 AM
0% Total
Low
0%
Mid
0%
High
0%
2 AM
0% Total
Low
0%
Mid
0%
High
0%
3 AM
1% Total
Low
1%
Mid
0%
High
0%
4 AM
1% Total
Low
1%
Mid
0%
High
0%
5 AM
0% Total
Low
0%
Mid
0%
High
0%
6 AM
0% Total
Low
0%
Mid
0%
High
0%
Why this score?

Limiting Factors

Humidity 79% Major limiter
Dew Spread 6.6°F High impact
Visibility 12 mi Moderate impact
Wind 7 mph Low impact
Precipitation 3% max Low impact
Source Comparison

Forecast Sources

MVP starts with Open-Meteo; additional sources will improve confidence scoring.
Source Clouds Rain Humidity Wind Status
Open-Meteo 0% 3% 79% 7 mph Primary forecast
Tomorrow.io -- -- -- -- Secondary forecast not configured/unavailable
National Weather Service -- -- -- -- No severe alert cap