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20-year trip-planning baseline

When to plan an observing trip to Aberystwyth

April: 3.0 usable nights on average. A regional planning baseline, not a forecast for your trip.

Site darkness · modelled, not measured
Threatened dark skyBortle classes describe observed sky conditions; this brightness model does not establish a measured Bortle class.
21.4–21.6 mag/arcsec²
The short answer

April has been strongest.

It averages 3.0 usable nights, versus 0.0 in June. A typical April lands between 1 and 5 usable nights.

No astronomical darkness in June. Cloud cannot rescue a night when the sun never reaches 18° below the horizon.
Record2005–2024 · 20 complete years
Usable nightAt least 3 astronomical-dark hours and NASA POWER nighttime cloud ≤30%
Dark-moon nightUsable night with ≤25% illumination at local solar midnight
ResolutionCERES SYN1deg 1° cloud grid; regional climate, not a campsite guarantee
Seasonal fingerprint

Usable nights by month

Range shows year-to-year spread

Month by month

January

0.8 usable nights

0–1 in the middle half of years · 0.1 typically near a dark moon.

363 astronomical-dark hours in an average month

February

1.3 usable nights

0–2 in the middle half of years · 0.2 typically near a dark moon.

292 astronomical-dark hours in an average month

March

2.0 usable nights

0–2 in the middle half of years · 0.7 typically near a dark moon.

257 astronomical-dark hours in an average month

April

3.0 usable nights

1–5 in the middle half of years · 0.9 typically near a dark moon.

164 astronomical-dark hours in an average month

May

0.6 usable nights

0–0 in the middle half of years · 0.1 typically near a dark moon.

46 astronomical-dark hours in an average month

June

0.0 usable nights

0–0 in the middle half of years · 0.0 typically near a dark moon.

0 astronomical-dark hours in an average month

July

0.0 usable nights

0–0 in the middle half of years · 0.0 typically near a dark moon.

10 astronomical-dark hours in an average month

August

1.4 usable nights

0–2 in the middle half of years · 0.3 typically near a dark moon.

135 astronomical-dark hours in an average month

September

2.4 usable nights

1–4 in the middle half of years · 0.8 typically near a dark moon.

218 astronomical-dark hours in an average month

October

1.4 usable nights

0–2 in the middle half of years · 0.3 typically near a dark moon.

296 astronomical-dark hours in an average month

November

0.7 usable nights

0–1 in the middle half of years · 0.2 typically near a dark moon.

340 astronomical-dark hours in an average month

December

0.6 usable nights

0–1 in the middle half of years · 0.2 typically near a dark moon.

372 astronomical-dark hours in an average month

Use the baseline honestly

Climate chooses the month. Forecasts choose the night.

The cloud product is a roughly 1° regional grid. It can reveal seasonality, but it cannot know a mountain ridge, valley fog pocket, locked gate, smoke event or the exact sky you will get.

Source: NASA POWER daily data, parameter CLOUD_AMT_NIGHT from the CERES SYN1deg cloud product. GoodSeeing calculates astronomical darkness and lunar illumination independently for each place.