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20-year trip-planning baseline

When to plan an observing trip to Isle of Coll

April: 0.3 usable nights on average. A regional planning baseline, not a forecast for your trip.

Site darkness · modelled, not measured
Natural-dark skyBortle classes describe observed sky conditions; this brightness model does not establish a measured Bortle class.
21.9–21.9 mag/arcsec²
The short answer

April has been strongest.

It averages 0.3 usable nights, versus 0.0 in January. A typical April lands between 0 and 0 usable nights.

No astronomical darkness in June, July. 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

0.0 usable nights

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

366 astronomical-dark hours in an average month

February

0.1 usable nights

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

289 astronomical-dark hours in an average month

March

0.1 usable nights

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

241 astronomical-dark hours in an average month

April

0.3 usable nights

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

128 astronomical-dark hours in an average month

May

0.0 usable nights

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

1 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.

0 astronomical-dark hours in an average month

August

0.1 usable nights

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

66 astronomical-dark hours in an average month

September

0.1 usable nights

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

204 astronomical-dark hours in an average month

October

0.0 usable nights

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

289 astronomical-dark hours in an average month

November

0.0 usable nights

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

343 astronomical-dark hours in an average month

December

0.0 usable nights

0–0 in the middle half of years · 0.0 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.