Home › Locations › Nelson

Tonight · peak score /100

16Poor

No usable window

best window

Limited by

Transparency

Why this matters

Transparency 0.10 — haze and water vapour will cost you the faintest targets. Read the guide →

Also limiting: Low cloud. See the guide →

Site details and actions

Site darkness · peer measure

Brightened skyNot multiplied into the conditions score

20.7–21.2 mag/arcsec²

The score describes tonight’s conditions. Site darkness helps you choose what to observe.

See target outlook ↓Planet observing times →

Best months at Nelson, Nelson →Moonless nights →

Tonight in context · local sky & season

November historically: 6.0 qualifying nights/month on average (2005–2024). Regional cloud and darkness history, not tonight’s probability or a comparison with the conditions score.

A qualifying historical night has at least 3 hours of astronomical darkness and mean nighttime cloud ≤30%. This does not measure steady air or target visibility. Seasonal history →

Saturn: about 5.7h above 20° during this observing night’s darkness. Longest sampled dark-time opportunity among our four planet targets; not a weather ranking. Planet times →

Position calculations use roughly 20-minute samples. Clouds, skyglow and local obstructions still matter. Milky Way timing →

Best window

None tonight

Window quality

—

Astronomical dark

22:00 – 05:00

Moon

Waning crescent, 31%

Transparency at peak

0.10

Seeing at peak (est.)

0.95

Visual limit (modelled)

4.5–6.0 mag

The night, hour by hour

Colour = score · Luminance = everything else

Score 0–100 · underline marks the best window · local time (Pacific/Auckland)
Hour	20	21	22	23	00	01	02	03	04	05	06
Score	0	2	6	5	7	9	10	9	16	0	0
Cloud %	100	100	100	100	100	100	99	98	81	100	100
Transp. 0–1	0.10	0.10	0.10	0.10	0.10	0.10	0.10	0.10	0.10	0.10	0.14
Seeing est. /1	0.75	0.88	0.96	1.00	1.00	1.00	1.00	0.96	0.95	0.93	0.91
Moon alt. °	-60	-60	-56	-48	-39	-28	-17	-6	5	15	24
Darkness	Day	Twil.	Dark	Dark	Dark	Dark	Dark	Dark	Dark	Twil.	Twil.

Inspect all cloud layers and score factors

Sky state

Shaded = daylight and twilight · unshaded = astronomical dark

Score

Low cloud

89%

65%

69%

71%

61%

44%

38%

50%

55%

100%

Mid cloud

15%

10%

28%

38%

High cloud

98%

100%

99%

98%

97%

59%

77%

89%

Transparency

0.10

0.14

Seeing

0.75

0.88

0.96

1.00

0.96

0.95

0.93

0.91

Moon clear

down

31%

30%

Inspect

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

Score inspectorWhy this hour scored what it did Open peakClose

04 Poor · 16/100

Starting from

100

Cloud

−75

Transparency

−9

Seeing

−0

Moonlight

−0

Darkness

−0

Score

CLOUD 81% LOW 55% MID 8% HIGH 59% SUN -21.4° MOON 4.9° / 31% WIND 3 TEMP 14°

Excellent 75+ Good 55+ Fair 35+ Poor 15+ Not worth it Seeing is estimated from surface wind — see how we score.

What can you actually do tonight?

This is GoodSeeing’s decision layer: the same forecast is weighted for your target and site darkness. Planetary work barely cares about moonlight; long exposures can fail on high cloud a visual observer would barely notice. Your choice is remembered on this device and becomes the default for new alert rules.

Deep-sky visualPlanetary & lunarWide-field imagingLong exposureMeteor watching

NO USABLE WINDOW FOR THIS TARGET TONIGHT

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

202200020406

CLOUD NEVER DROPS BELOW 81%SITE GLOW LIMITS THIS TARGET

NO USABLE WINDOW FOR THIS TARGET TONIGHT

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

202200020406

CLOUD NEVER DROPS BELOW 81%

NO USABLE WINDOW FOR THIS TARGET TONIGHT

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

202200020406

CLOUD NEVER DROPS BELOW 81%

NO USABLE WINDOW FOR THIS TARGET TONIGHT

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

202200020406

CLOUD NEVER DROPS BELOW 81%

NO USABLE WINDOW FOR THIS TARGET TONIGHT

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

202200020406

CLOUD NEVER DROPS BELOW 81%

Deep-sky visual is your current default.

A darker option

Aoraki Mackenzie (Lake Tekapo)

381 km away · Natural-dark sky · 21.8–21.9 mag/arcsec²

5conditions tonight

See the trade-off →

Latest verified night · 2026-11-01

Prediction, meet observation.

All comparisons →

Forecast

90%

Observed

99%

7 matches0 discrepanciesSatellite saw 9.1 points more cloud.

HIMAWARI cloud mask · ~13h referenceThe cloud call matched every sampled dark hour.Cloud only · 7 astronomically dark hours

Recent cloud comparisons · 30 recorded nights →

The next week of nights

Tonight
3 Nov16Moon 31%Cloud or fog is the strongest score limit at the best sampled time. ↓

Score 0–100 · underline marks the best window · local time (Pacific/Auckland)
Hour	20	21	22	23	00	01	02	03	04	05	06
Score	0	2	6	5	7	9	10	9	16	0	0
Cloud %	100	100	100	100	100	100	99	98	81	100	100
Transp. 0–1	0.10	0.10	0.10	0.10	0.10	0.10	0.10	0.10	0.10	0.10	0.14
Seeing est. /1	0.75	0.88	0.96	1.00	1.00	1.00	1.00	0.96	0.95	0.93	0.91
Moon alt. °	-60	-60	-56	-48	-39	-28	-17	-6	5	15	24
Darkness	Day	Twil.	Dark	Dark	Dark	Dark	Dark	Dark	Dark	Twil.	Twil.

All factors for this night

Sky state

Shaded = daylight and twilight · unshaded = astronomical dark

Score

Low cloud

89%

65%

69%

71%

61%

44%

38%

50%

55%

100%

Mid cloud

15%

10%

28%

38%

High cloud

98%

100%

99%

98%

97%

59%

77%

89%

Transparency

0.10

0.14

Seeing

0.75

0.88

0.96

1.00

0.96

0.95

0.93

0.91

Moon clear

down

31%

30%

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

Tomorrow
4 Nov9Moon 23%Cloud or fog is the strongest score limit at the best sampled time. ↓

Score 0–100 · underline marks the best window · local time (Pacific/Auckland)
Hour	20	21	22	23	00	01	02	03	04	05	06
Score	0	2	9	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Cloud %	93	88	90	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100
Transp. 0–1	0.15	0.13	0.10	0.10	0.10	0.10	0.10	0.10	0.10	0.10	0.10
Seeing est. /1	0.68	0.72	0.72	0.70	0.74	0.76	0.81	0.86	0.84	0.80	0.83
Moon alt. °	-50	-54	-54	-49	-42	-32	-22	-11	1	11	22
Darkness	Day	Twil.	Dark	Dark	Dark	Dark	Dark	Dark	Dark	Twil.	Twil.

All factors for this night

Sky state

Shaded = daylight and twilight · unshaded = astronomical dark

Score

Low cloud

48%

79%

73%

100%

Mid cloud

26%

46%

30%

27%

45%

24%

19%

11%

High cloud

85%

37%

58%

25%

27%

Transparency

0.15

0.13

0.10

Seeing

0.68

0.72

0.70

0.74

0.76

0.81

0.86

0.84

0.80

0.83

Moon clear

down

21%

20%

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

Thursday
5 Nov0Moon 15%Cloud or fog is the strongest score limit at the best sampled time. ↓

Score 0–100 · underline marks the best window · local time (Pacific/Auckland)
Hour	20	21	22	23	00	01	02	03	04	05	06
Score	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Cloud %	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100
Transp. 0–1	0.10	0.10	0.10	0.10	0.10	0.10	0.10	0.10	0.10	0.10	0.10
Seeing est. /1	0.58	0.62	0.60	0.54	0.55	0.53	0.54	0.56	0.54	0.51	0.46
Moon alt. °	-39	-45	-48	-47	-42	-34	-25	-15	-3	8	19
Darkness	Day	Twil.	Dark	Dark	Dark	Dark	Dark	Dark	Dark	Twil.	Twil.

All factors for this night

Sky state

Shaded = daylight and twilight · unshaded = astronomical dark

Score

Low cloud

100%

Mid cloud

45%

57%

95%

77%

84%

14%

34%

48%

78%

98%

73%

High cloud

79%

95%

89%

80%

95%

81%

73%

88%

83%

85%

66%

Transparency

0.10

Seeing

0.58

0.62

0.60

0.54

0.55

0.53

0.54

0.56

0.54

0.51

0.46

Moon clear

down

13%

12%

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

Friday
6 Nov0Moon 7%Cloud or fog is the strongest score limit at the best sampled time. ↓

Score 0–100 · underline marks the best window · local time (Pacific/Auckland)
Hour	19	01	07
Score	0	0	0
Cloud %	100	100	100
Transp. 0–1	0.10	0.10	0.10
Seeing est. /1	0.70	0.94	0.97
Moon alt. °	-18	-34	25
Darkness	Day	Dark	Day

All factors for this night

Sky state

Shaded = daylight and twilight · unshaded = astronomical dark

Score

Low cloud

100%

Mid cloud

17%

21%

High cloud

30%

15%

Transparency

0.10

Seeing

0.70

0.94

0.97

Moon clear

down

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

Saturday
7 Nov0Moon 3%Cloud or fog is the strongest score limit at the best sampled time. ↓

Score 0–100 · underline marks the best window · local time (Pacific/Auckland)
Hour	19	01	07
Score	0	0	0
Cloud %	18	100	100
Transp. 0–1	0.25	0.10	0.10
Seeing est. /1	1.00	1.00	1.00
Moon alt. °	-7	-33	21
Darkness	Day	Dark	Day

All factors for this night

Sky state

Shaded = daylight and twilight · unshaded = astronomical dark

Score

Low cloud

100%

Mid cloud

High cloud

Transparency

0.25

0.10

Seeing

1.00

Moon clear

down

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

Sunday
8 Nov29Moon 1%Cloud or fog is the strongest score limit at the best sampled time. ↓

Score 0–100 · underline marks the best window · local time (Pacific/Auckland)
Hour	19	01	07
Score	0	29	0
Cloud %	92	60	64
Transp. 0–1	0.29	0.16	0.20
Seeing est. /1	0.82	0.94	0.99
Moon alt. °	5	-30	16
Darkness	Day	Dark	Day

All factors for this night

Sky state

Shaded = daylight and twilight · unshaded = astronomical dark

Score

Low cloud

51%

Mid cloud

High cloud

91%

20%

60%

Transparency

0.29

0.16

0.20

Seeing

0.82

0.94

0.99

Moon clear

down

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

Monday
9 Nov0Moon 0%Cloud or fog is the strongest score limit at the best sampled time. ↓

Score 0–100 · underline marks the best window · local time (Pacific/Auckland)
Hour	19	01	07
Score	0	0	0
Cloud %	100	100	100
Transp. 0–1	0.25	0.12	0.10
Seeing est. /1	0.97	1.00	1.00
Moon alt. °	16	-26	10
Darkness	Day	Dark	Day

All factors for this night

Sky state

Shaded = daylight and twilight · unshaded = astronomical dark

Score

Low cloud

24%

100%

Mid cloud

100%

81%

41%

High cloud

100%

88%

Transparency

0.25

0.12

0.10

Seeing

0.97

1.00

Moon clear

down

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

Tap a night for its hours. Later forecasts may have wider time steps; missing hours are not interpolated.

Planning a trip?

Compare the next eight weekends → · Best months to visit → · Moonless nights →

About this forecast

Exact-coordinate weather, sky geometry and site context.

Full method →20-year baseline →

Sources and scoring details openclose

Conditions for Nelson, Nelson, 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 astronomical twilight. Site darkness is shown separately, then used only where artificial skyglow physically changes moon contrast, haze scattering, visual limits and target suitability.