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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.

Fair conditions
Observing Outlook

Fair conditions expected

Night-window score reflects clouds, rain risk, visibility, dew risk, wind, and humidity. Clouds 56%, rain risk 3%, wind 3 mph.

64/100 Fair 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 64 Fair
Clouds 56% Partly cloudy
Rain Risk 3% Max overnight
Visibility 15.0 mi Good
Wind 3 mph Gusts 3 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
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Visual Observing

General sky conditions are available now.

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Deep Sky Imaging

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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

Low Confidence

Conditions appear changeable enough that the observing window may shift.

3 forecast source active
  • Forecast sources active: 2
  • Alert sources active: 1
  • Forecast models disagree during multiple observing hours
  • Cloud cover changes sharply during the night
Hour-by-Hour

Observing Window

2026-10-08 7 PM → next morning 6 AM
Time Score Outlook Clouds Low Mid High Rain Visibility Dew Spread Wind Humidity Temp
10/8 - 7 PM 95 Excellent 8% 0% 0% 5% 2% 15.0 mi 24.1°F 2 mph 41% 63°F
10/8 - 8 PM 35 Poor 89% 0% 5% 88% 3% 15.0 mi 21.7°F 3 mph 45% 62°F
10/8 - 9 PM 95 Excellent 21% 0% 5% 14% 3% 15.0 mi 22.2°F 2 mph 44% 62°F
10/8 - 10 PM 95 Excellent 16% 0% 5% 5% 3% 15.0 mi 22.7°F 3 mph 43% 62°F
10/8 - 11 PM 93 Excellent 28% 5% 10% 14% 3% 15.0 mi 22.7°F 4 mph 43% 61°F
10/9 - 12 AM 93 Excellent 23% 5% 14% 10% 3% 15.0 mi 20.9°F 3 mph 46% 60°F
10/9 - 1 AM 35 Poor 88% 5% 85% 5% 3% 15.0 mi 20.3°F 4 mph 47% 60°F
10/9 - 2 AM 35 Poor 90% 28% 79% 73% 2% 15.0 mi 20.3°F 4 mph 47% 60°F
10/9 - 3 AM 25 Poor 100% 100% 100% 0% 2% 15.0 mi 20.3°F 4 mph 47% 60°F
10/9 - 4 AM 25 Poor 100% 0% 100% 5% 2% 15.0 mi 19.2°F 5 mph 49% 59°F
10/9 - 5 AM 50 Fair 83% 0% 77% 5% 2% 15.0 mi 18.6°F 4 mph 50% 59°F
10/9 - 6 AM 93 Excellent 24% 0% 10% 13% 2% 15.0 mi 18.1°F 3 mph 51% 58°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
8% Total
Low
0%
Mid
0%
High
5%
8 PM
89% Total
Low
0%
Mid
5%
High
88%
9 PM
21% Total
Low
0%
Mid
5%
High
14%
10 PM
16% Total
Low
0%
Mid
5%
High
5%
11 PM
28% Total
Low
5%
Mid
10%
High
14%
12 AM
23% Total
Low
5%
Mid
14%
High
10%
1 AM
88% Total
Low
5%
Mid
85%
High
5%
2 AM
90% Total
Low
28%
Mid
79%
High
73%
3 AM
100% Total
Low
100%
Mid
100%
High
0%
4 AM
100% Total
Low
0%
Mid
100%
High
5%
5 AM
83% Total
Low
0%
Mid
77%
High
5%
6 AM
24% Total
Low
0%
Mid
10%
High
13%
Why this score?

Limiting Factors

Mid Clouds 41% High impact
Visibility 15 mi Moderate impact
High Clouds 20% Low impact
Low Clouds 12% Low impact
Wind 3 mph 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 56% 3% 46% 3 mph Primary forecast
Tomorrow.io -- -- -- -- Secondary forecast active
National Weather Service -- -- -- -- Active alert cap: 20