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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.

Good conditions
Observing Outlook

Good observing conditions expected

Night-window score reflects clouds, rain risk, visibility, dew risk, wind, and humidity. Clouds 44%, rain risk 5%, wind 7 mph.

67/100 Good Best: 3 AM – 6 AM
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 67 Good
Clouds 44% Partly cloudy
Rain Risk 5% Max overnight
Visibility 14.9 mi Fair
Wind 7 mph Gusts 10 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 9 PM
•
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

2026-10-09 7 PM → next morning 6 AM
Time Score Outlook Clouds Low Mid High Rain Visibility Dew Spread Wind Humidity Temp
10/9 - 7 PM 25 Poor 100% 39% 0% 100% 1% 15.0 mi 27.9°F 6 mph 36% 68°F
10/9 - 8 PM 35 Poor 92% 5% 5% 92% 5% 15.0 mi 25.7°F 6 mph 39% 67°F
10/9 - 9 PM 93 Excellent 17% 0% 5% 12% 5% 15.0 mi 24.3°F 5 mph 41% 66°F
10/9 - 10 PM 86 Excellent 29% 24% 5% 0% 5% 15.0 mi 19.6°F 4 mph 49% 64°F
10/9 - 11 PM 25 Poor 100% 100% 39% 0% 5% 15.0 mi 19.0°F 6 mph 50% 65°F
10/10 - 12 AM 50 Fair 83% 64% 50% 0% 5% 15.0 mi 16.0°F 6 mph 56% 63°F
10/10 - 1 AM 25 Poor 98% 92% 79% 0% 5% 14.5 mi 16.4°F 8 mph 55% 63°F
10/10 - 2 AM 93 Excellent 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 14.7 mi 16.9°F 8 mph 54% 62°F
10/10 - 3 AM 93 Excellent 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 14.8 mi 18.3°F 7 mph 51% 62°F
10/10 - 4 AM 93 Excellent 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 15.0 mi 19.9°F 8 mph 48% 62°F
10/10 - 5 AM 93 Excellent 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 15.0 mi 20.4°F 8 mph 47% 62°F
10/10 - 6 AM 93 Excellent 5% 0% 5% 0% 0% 15.0 mi 21.0°F 8 mph 46% 62°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
100% Total
Low
39%
Mid
0%
High
100%
8 PM
92% Total
Low
5%
Mid
5%
High
92%
9 PM
17% Total
Low
0%
Mid
5%
High
12%
10 PM
29% Total
Low
24%
Mid
5%
High
0%
11 PM
100% Total
Low
100%
Mid
39%
High
0%
12 AM
83% Total
Low
64%
Mid
50%
High
0%
1 AM
98% Total
Low
92%
Mid
79%
High
0%
2 AM
0% Total
Low
0%
Mid
0%
High
0%
3 AM
0% Total
Low
0%
Mid
0%
High
0%
4 AM
0% Total
Low
0%
Mid
0%
High
0%
5 AM
0% Total
Low
0%
Mid
0%
High
0%
6 AM
5% Total
Low
0%
Mid
5%
High
0%
Why this score?

Limiting Factors

Visibility 14.9 mi Moderate impact
Low Clouds 27% Moderate impact
Mid Clouds 16% Low impact
Wind 7 mph Low impact
High Clouds 17% 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 44% 5% 48% 7 mph Primary forecast
Tomorrow.io -- -- -- -- Secondary forecast active
National Weather Service -- -- -- -- Active alert cap: 20