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Al Bahah

20.013° N   41.468° E  ·  2176 M
72 /100
PEAK
Worth setting up — 3 hours of workable sky from 00:00.
BEST WINDOW 00:00–03:00 · ASTRO DARK 21:00–05:00 · MOON 0%
Transparency
1.00
Seeing
1.00
Cloud
35%
Moon
0%

Good tonight

Hour by hour, local to Al Bahah. Colour encodes the score and nothing else; every other measurement is luminance.

Sky state
Lighter = daylight and twilight  ·  unshaded = astronomical dark
Score
21
22
23
00
01
02
03
04
05
06
18
28
9
48
72
57
24
49
37
0
BEST WINDOW
Low cloud
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
Mid cloud
74%
64%
98%
42%
15%
38%
81%
48%
8%
36%
High cloud
74%
54%
47%
41%
25%
16%
11%
14%
44%
40%
Transparency
1.00
1.00
1.00
1.00
1.00
1.00
1.00
1.00
1.00
1.00
Seeing
0.62
0.71
0.86
1.00
0.83
0.75
0.72
0.74
0.76
0.68
Moon clear
down
down
down
down
down
down
down
down
down
down
Inspect

Cloud tracks show clear sky — a longer bar is better. The figure inside each track is the raw measurement.

Why this hour scored what it did
21 Poor · 18/100
Starting from
100
Cloud
−80
Transparency
−0
Seeing
−2
Moonlight
−0
Darkness
−0
Score
18
CLOUD 93% LOW 0% MID 74% HIGH 74% SUN -29.8° MOON -28.0° / 0% WIND 6 TEMP 25°
Excellent 75+ Good 55+ Fair 35+ Poor 15+ Not worth it Seeing is estimated from surface wind — see how we score.
Tonight's limiting factor
Why thin high cloud ruins long exposures

Cirrus you can barely see will halo your bright stars, lift your background and vary between frames. Visual observers shrug it off. Long exposures integrate it, so it accumulates.

What are you doing tonight?

The same forecast, weighted for the target. Planetary work barely cares about moonlight; long exposures die on high cloud a visual observer would never notice.

SET UP 23:30 · OBSERVE 00:00–03:00 · 3H · MEAN 59

Darkness and moonlight dominate. Faint fuzzies need a genuinely dark sky more than they need steady air.

2123010305
CLOUD BREAKS 00:00CLOUD RETURNS 03:00
SET UP 23:30 · OBSERVE 00:00–03:00 · 3H · MEAN 55

Seeing is everything and moonlight is irrelevant. Bright targets punch through twilight, so darkness barely counts.

2123010305
CLOUD BREAKS 00:00CLOUD RETURNS 03:00MOONLIGHT IGNORED FOR THIS TARGET
SET UP 23:30 · OBSERVE 00:00–03:00 · 3H · MEAN 56

Tolerates soft seeing, but high cloud wrecks a wide frame and moonlight raises the background everywhere.

2123010305
CLOUD BREAKS 00:00CLOUD RETURNS 03:00
SET UP 00:30 · OBSERVE 01:00–03:00 · 2H · MEAN 52

Needs conditions to hold still for hours. Sustained transparency matters more than any single good hour.

2123010305
HIGH CLOUD CLEARS 01:00CLOUD RETURNS 03:00
SET UP 23:30 · OBSERVE 00:00–03:00 · 3H · MEAN 54

Naked eye, whole sky. Total cloud and moonlight are the only things that count.

2123010305
CLOUD BREAKS 00:00CLOUD RETURNS 03:00
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The next week of nights

Tonight · 12 Aug
72
Good
MOON 0%
00:00–03:00
Tomorrow · 13 Aug
77
Excellent
MOON 2%
23:00–02:00
Friday · 14 Aug
90
Excellent
MOON 6%
22:00–02:00
Saturday · 15 Aug
60
Good
MOON 13%
03:00–04:00
Sunday · 16 Aug
99
Excellent
MOON 21%
03:00–04:00
Monday · 17 Aug
96
Excellent
MOON 30%
21:00–22:00
Tuesday · 18 Aug
59
Good
MOON 39%
03:00–04:00
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Nearby locations

About this forecast

Conditions for Al Bahah, Saudi Arabia are computed from the MET Norway forecast model for these exact coordinates, combined with sun and moon positions we calculate directly. The score weighs cloud cover by layer, atmospheric transparency, estimated seeing, moonlight and how dark the sky actually gets. Read the full method →