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Driefontein

-26.965° S   30.436° E  ·  1405 M
58 /100
PEAK
Worth setting up — 4 hours of workable sky from 00:00.
BEST WINDOW 00:00–04:00 · ASTRO DARK 19:00–06:00 · MOON 0%
Transparency
0.23
Seeing
1.00
Cloud
15%
Moon
0%

Good tonight

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

Sky state
Lighter = daylight and twilight  ·  unshaded = astronomical dark
Score
18
19
20
21
22
23
00
01
02
03
04
05
06
07
0
2
5
1
0
7
39
53
58
43
14
0
0
0
BEST WINDOW
Low cloud
89%
93%
84%
95%
99%
88%
39%
19%
14%
36%
75%
100%
98%
98%
Mid cloud
49%
65%
59%
62%
21%
6%
4%
3%
1%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
High cloud
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
3%
Transparency
0.10
0.10
0.23
0.22
0.22
0.23
0.23
0.22
0.21
0.19
0.17
0.17
0.19
0.21
Seeing
0.75
0.76
0.73
0.75
0.74
0.80
0.88
0.93
1.00
1.00
0.99
0.99
0.97
0.99
Moon clear
down
down
down
down
down
down
down
down
down
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
18 Clouded out · 0/100
Starting from
100
Cloud
−94
Transparency
−2
Seeing
−0
Moonlight
−0
Darkness
−4
Score
0
CLOUD 91% LOW 89% MID 49% HIGH 0% SUN -5.9° MOON -5.9° / 0% WIND 5 TEMP 8°
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 23:30 · OBSERVE 00:00–04:00 · 4H · MEAN 49

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

18202200020406
CLOUD BREAKS 00:00CLOUD RETURNS 04:00
SET UP 23:30 · OBSERVE 00:00–04:00 · 4H · MEAN 60

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

18202200020406
CLOUD BREAKS 00:00CLOUD RETURNS 04:00MOONLIGHT IGNORED FOR THIS TARGET
SET UP 23:30 · OBSERVE 00:00–04:00 · 4H · MEAN 45

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

18202200020406
CLOUD BREAKS 00:00CLOUD RETURNS 04:00
SET UP 00:30 · OBSERVE 01:00–03:00 · 2H · MEAN 42

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

18202200020406
CLOUD BREAKS 01:00CLOUD RETURNS 03:00
SET UP 23:30 · OBSERVE 00:00–04:00 · 4H · MEAN 50

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

18202200020406
CLOUD BREAKS 00:00CLOUD RETURNS 04:00
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The next week of nights

Tonight · 12 Aug
58
Good
MOON 0%
00:00–04:00
Tomorrow · 13 Aug
45
Fair
MOON 2%
22:00–23:00
Friday · 14 Aug
82
Excellent
MOON 6%
19:00–06:00
Saturday · 15 Aug
87
Excellent
MOON 13%
20:00–21:00
Sunday · 16 Aug
78
Excellent
MOON 21%
20:00–21:00
Monday · 17 Aug
77
Excellent
MOON 30%
20:00–21:00
Tuesday · 18 Aug
67
Good
MOON 39%
20:00–21:00
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Nearby locations

About this forecast

Conditions for Driefontein, South Africa 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 →