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Shakaskraal

-29.449° S   31.215° E  ·  36 M
57 /100
PEAK
Worth setting up — 7 hours of workable sky from 23:00.
BEST WINDOW 23:00–06:00 · ASTRO DARK 19:00–06:00 · MOON 0%
Transparency
0.30
Seeing
0.85
Cloud
17%
Moon
0%

Good tonight

Hour by hour, local to Shakaskraal. 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
1
10
27
33
22
44
35
36
46
47
51
57
6
0
BEST WINDOW
Low cloud
69%
47%
32%
17%
27%
13%
10%
16%
17%
13%
4%
0%
6%
1%
Mid cloud
55%
77%
42%
35%
59%
29%
46%
41%
21%
23%
23%
17%
16%
16%
High cloud
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
Transparency
0.17
0.10
0.22
0.10
0.25
0.28
0.28
0.30
0.30
0.27
0.26
0.26
0.26
0.29
Seeing
0.81
0.75
0.72
0.63
0.72
0.82
0.78
0.77
0.80
0.83
0.80
0.80
0.85
0.87
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 · 1/100
Starting from
100
Cloud
−84
Transparency
−5
Seeing
−1
Moonlight
−0
Darkness
−9
Score
1
CLOUD 84% LOW 69% MID 55% HIGH 0% SUN -7.2° MOON -7.2° / 0% WIND 4 TEMP 14°
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 22:30 · OBSERVE 23:00–06:00 · 7H · MEAN 46

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

18202200020406
CLOUD BREAKS 23:00TWILIGHT BEGINS 06:00
SET UP 22:30 · OBSERVE 23:00–07:00 · 8H · MEAN 50

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

18202200020406
CLOUD BREAKS 23:00TWILIGHT BEGINS 07:00MOONLIGHT IGNORED FOR THIS TARGET
SET UP 22:30 · OBSERVE 23:00–06:00 · 7H · MEAN 44

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

18202200020406
CLOUD BREAKS 23:00TWILIGHT BEGINS 06:00
SET UP 03:30 · OBSERVE 04:00–06:00 · 2H · MEAN 41

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

18202200020406
TWILIGHT BEGINS 06:00
SET UP 22:30 · OBSERVE 23:00–06:00 · 7H · MEAN 47

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

18202200020406
CLOUD BREAKS 23:00TWILIGHT BEGINS 06:00
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The next week of nights

Tonight · 12 Aug
57
Good
MOON 0%
23:00–06:00
Tomorrow · 13 Aug
63
Good
MOON 2%
19:00–06:00
Friday · 14 Aug
70
Good
MOON 6%
19:00–06:00
Saturday · 15 Aug
69
Good
MOON 13%
20:00–21:00
Sunday · 16 Aug
68
Good
MOON 21%
02:00–03:00
Monday · 17 Aug
69
Good
MOON 30%
02:00–03:00
Tuesday · 18 Aug
4
Clouded out
MOON 39%
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Nearby locations

About this forecast

Conditions for Shakaskraal, 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 →