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Ashburton

-43.898° S   171.730° E  ·  106 M
36 /100
PEAK
Marginal, but there is a 1 hour gap from 06:00.
BEST WINDOW 06:00–07:00 · ASTRO DARK 04:00–06:00 · MOON 0%
Transparency
0.43
Seeing
0.73
Cloud
53%
Moon
0%

Fair tonight

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

Sky state
Lighter = daylight and twilight  ·  unshaded = astronomical dark
Score
04
05
06
07
08
34
26
36
1
0
BEST WINDOW
Low cloud
6%
4%
3%
1%
0%
Mid cloud
35%
53%
40%
46%
34%
High cloud
46%
47%
22%
27%
25%
Transparency
0.43
0.40
0.39
0.38
0.38
Seeing
0.60
0.67
0.70
0.73
0.75
Moon clear
down
down
down
down
0%
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
04 Poor · 34/100
Starting from
100
Cloud
−52
Transparency
−11
Seeing
−4
Moonlight
−0
Darkness
−0
Score
34
CLOUD 64% LOW 6% MID 35% HIGH 46% SUN -38.5° MOON -39.9° / 0% WIND 6 TEMP 10°
Excellent 75+ Good 55+ Fair 35+ Poor 15+ Not worth it Seeing is estimated from surface wind — see how we score.

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 05:30 · OBSERVE 06:00–07:00 · 1H · MEAN 35

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

040608
HIGH CLOUD CLEARS 06:00TWILIGHT BEGINS 07:00
SET UP 05:30 · OBSERVE 06:00–07:00 · 1H · MEAN 40

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

040608
HIGH CLOUD CLEARS 06:00TWILIGHT BEGINS 07:00MOONLIGHT IGNORED FOR THIS TARGET
NO USABLE WINDOW FOR THIS TARGET TONIGHT

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

040608
CLOUD NEVER DROPS BELOW 47%
NO USABLE WINDOW FOR THIS TARGET TONIGHT

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

040608
CLOUD NEVER DROPS BELOW 47%
NO USABLE WINDOW FOR THIS TARGET TONIGHT

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

040608
CLOUD NEVER DROPS BELOW 47%
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The next week of nights

Tonight · 12 Aug
36
Fair
MOON 0%
06:00–07:00
Tomorrow · 13 Aug
54
Fair
MOON 1%
20:00–00:00
Friday · 14 Aug
65
Good
MOON 4%
01:00–03:00
Saturday · 15 Aug
54
Fair
MOON 8%
06:00–07:00
Sunday · 16 Aug
12
Clouded out
MOON 17%
Monday · 17 Aug
69
Good
MOON 25%
00:00–01:00
Tuesday · 18 Aug
62
Good
MOON 35%
00:00–01:00
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Nearby locations

About this forecast

Conditions for Ashburton, New Zealand 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 →