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Desert Hot Springs

33.962° N   116.504° W  ·  329 M
79 /100
PEAK
A genuinely good night — 8 hours of clear, dark sky from 21:00.
BEST WINDOW 21:00–05:00 · ASTRO DARK 22:00–05:00 · MOON 1%
Transparency
0.99
Seeing
0.85
Cloud
1%
Moon
1%

Excellent tonight

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

Sky state
Lighter = daylight and twilight  ·  unshaded = astronomical dark
Score
20
21
22
23
00
01
02
03
04
05
06
0
79
56
51
45
42
42
42
42
25
0
BEST WINDOW
Low cloud
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
Mid cloud
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
1%
2%
3%
2%
6%
19%
High cloud
2%
1%
70%
80%
94%
97%
96%
96%
98%
98%
95%
Transparency
1.00
0.99
0.96
0.94
0.94
0.93
0.92
0.91
0.93
0.93
0.97
Seeing
0.56
0.62
0.69
0.75
0.77
0.76
0.77
0.78
0.81
0.85
0.88
Moon clear
down
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
20 Clouded out · 0/100
Starting from
100
Cloud
−1
Transparency
−0
Seeing
−11
Moonlight
−0
Darkness
−88
Score
0
CLOUD 2% LOW 0% MID 0% HIGH 2% SUN -5.4° MOON -0.5° / 0% WIND 6 TEMP 30°
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 20:30 · OBSERVE 21:00–05:00 · 8H · MEAN 48

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

202200020406
ASTRONOMICAL DARK FROM 21:00TWILIGHT BEGINS 05:00
SET UP 20:30 · OBSERVE 21:00–05:00 · 8H · MEAN 45

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

202200020406
ASTRONOMICAL DARK FROM 21:00TWILIGHT BEGINS 05:00MOONLIGHT IGNORED FOR THIS TARGET
SET UP 20:30 · OBSERVE 21:00–00:00 · 3H · MEAN 57

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

202200020406
ASTRONOMICAL DARK FROM 21:00
SET UP 20:30 · OBSERVE 21:00–23:00 · 2H · MEAN 58

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

202200020406
ASTRONOMICAL DARK FROM 21:00
SET UP 20:30 · OBSERVE 21:00–01:00 · 4H · MEAN 53

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

202200020406
ASTRONOMICAL DARK FROM 21:00
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The next week of nights

Tonight · 12 Aug
79
Excellent
MOON 1%
21:00–05:00
Tomorrow · 13 Aug
44
Fair
MOON 3%
01:00–05:00
Friday · 14 Aug
98
Excellent
MOON 7%
21:00–00:00
Saturday · 15 Aug
99
Excellent
MOON 17%
23:00–00:00
Sunday · 16 Aug
100
Excellent
MOON 25%
23:00–00:00
Monday · 17 Aug
90
Excellent
MOON 35%
23:00–00:00
Tuesday · 18 Aug
100
Excellent
MOON 44%
23:00–00:00
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Nearby locations

About this forecast

Conditions for Desert Hot Springs, California, United States 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 →