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Fountain Hills

33.612° N   111.717° W  ·  494 M
58 /100
PEAK
Worth setting up — 1 hour of workable sky from 21:00.
BEST WINDOW 21:00–22:00 · ASTRO DARK 21:00–05:00 · MOON 1%
Transparency
1.00
Seeing
1.00
Cloud
19%
Moon
1%

Good tonight

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

Sky state
Lighter = daylight and twilight  ·  unshaded = astronomical dark
Score
19
20
21
22
23
00
01
02
03
04
05
06
0
17
58
33
28
24
33
19
32
58
20
0
BEST WINDOW
Low cloud
0%
0%
0%
1%
0%
11%
3%
15%
9%
0%
10%
4%
Mid cloud
12%
6%
13%
16%
4%
13%
6%
40%
18%
13%
12%
6%
High cloud
48%
50%
39%
83%
98%
94%
81%
81%
58%
13%
2%
2%
Transparency
1.00
1.00
0.67
0.33
0.13
0.13
0.13
0.10
0.10
0.34
0.36
0.37
Seeing
0.69
0.79
0.87
0.89
0.87
0.89
1.00
1.00
0.85
0.89
0.99
0.97
Moon clear
0%
down
down
down
down
down
down
down
down
down
down
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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
19 Clouded out · 0/100
Starting from
100
Cloud
−34
Transparency
−0
Seeing
−5
Moonlight
−0
Darkness
−61
Score
0
CLOUD 55% LOW 0% MID 12% HIGH 48% SUN 2.5° MOON 6.9° / 0% WIND 5 TEMP 33°
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 03:30 · OBSERVE 04:00–05:00 · 1H · MEAN 59

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

192123010305
HIGH CLOUD CLEARS 04:00TWILIGHT BEGINS 05:00
SET UP 02:30 · OBSERVE 03:00–06:00 · 3H · MEAN 53

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

192123010305
HIGH CLOUD CLEARS 03:00TWILIGHT BEGINS 06:00MOONLIGHT IGNORED FOR THIS TARGET
SET UP 03:30 · OBSERVE 04:00–05:00 · 1H · MEAN 54

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

192123010305
HIGH CLOUD CLEARS 04:00TWILIGHT BEGINS 05:00
SET UP 03:30 · OBSERVE 04:00–05:00 · 1H · MEAN 43

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

192123010305
HIGH CLOUD CLEARS 04:00TWILIGHT BEGINS 05:00
SET UP 03:30 · OBSERVE 04:00–05:00 · 1H · MEAN 60

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

192123010305
HIGH CLOUD CLEARS 04:00TWILIGHT BEGINS 05:00
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The next week of nights

Tonight · 12 Aug
58
Good
MOON 1%
21:00–22:00
Tomorrow · 13 Aug
68
Good
MOON 3%
01:00–05:00
Friday · 14 Aug
62
Good
MOON 7%
21:00–00:00
Saturday · 15 Aug
35
Fair
MOON 17%
23:00–00:00
Sunday · 16 Aug
98
Excellent
MOON 25%
23:00–00:00
Monday · 17 Aug
99
Excellent
MOON 35%
23:00–00:00
Tuesday · 18 Aug
42
Fair
MOON 44%
23:00–00:00
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Nearby locations

About this forecast

Conditions for Fountain Hills, Arizona, 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 →