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Soma

13.433° N   15.533° W  ·  21 M
54 /100
PEAK
Marginal, but there is a 9 hours gap from 21:00.
BEST WINDOW 21:00–06:00 · ASTRO DARK 21:00–06:00 · MOON 0%
Transparency
0.20
Seeing
1.00
Cloud
23%
Moon
0%

Fair tonight

Hour by hour, local to Soma. 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
07
0
12
44
54
50
39
46
43
38
48
41
24
0
BEST WINDOW
Low cloud
1%
2%
0%
8%
2%
0%
2%
0%
2%
6%
0%
0%
1%
Mid cloud
14%
5%
24%
6%
2%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
High cloud
41%
23%
31%
13%
41%
77%
56%
66%
77%
45%
73%
59%
48%
Transparency
0.10
0.10
0.20
0.19
0.18
0.18
0.19
0.20
0.20
0.20
0.19
0.19
0.18
Seeing
0.77
0.92
1.00
0.97
1.00
1.00
1.00
1.00
0.97
1.00
1.00
1.00
1.00
Moon clear
0%
down
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
19 Clouded out · 0/100
Starting from
100
Cloud
−33
Transparency
−24
Seeing
−2
Moonlight
−0
Darkness
−40
Score
0
CLOUD 47% LOW 1% MID 14% HIGH 41% SUN 5.2° MOON 7.6° / 0% WIND 4 TEMP 26°
Excellent 75+ Good 55+ Fair 35+ Poor 15+ Not worth it Seeing is estimated from surface wind — see how we score.
Tonight's limiting factor
Why thin high cloud ruins long exposures

Cirrus you can barely see will halo your bright stars, lift your background and vary between frames. Visual observers shrug it off. Long exposures integrate it, so it accumulates.

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 21:00–06:00 · 9H · MEAN 43

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

19212301030507
ASTRONOMICAL DARK FROM 21:00TWILIGHT BEGINS 06:00
SET UP 19:30 · OBSERVE 20:00–07:00 · 11H · MEAN 53

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

19212301030507
HIGH CLOUD CLEARS 20:00TWILIGHT BEGINS 07:00MOONLIGHT IGNORED FOR THIS TARGET
SET UP 20:30 · OBSERVE 21:00–00:00 · 3H · MEAN 42

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

19212301030507
ASTRONOMICAL DARK FROM 21:00CLOUD RETURNS 00:00
SET UP 21:30 · OBSERVE 22:00–23:00 · 1H · MEAN 38

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

19212301030507
HIGH CLOUD CLEARS 22:00CLOUD RETURNS 23:00
SET UP 20:30 · OBSERVE 21:00–00:00 · 3H · MEAN 49

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

19212301030507
ASTRONOMICAL DARK FROM 21:00CLOUD RETURNS 00:00
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The next week of nights

Tonight · 12 Aug
54
Fair
MOON 0%
21:00–06:00
Tomorrow · 13 Aug
35
Fair
MOON 2%
21:00–22:00
Friday · 14 Aug
66
Good
MOON 6%
21:00–06:00
Saturday · 15 Aug
35
Fair
MOON 13%
00:00–01:00
Sunday · 16 Aug
29
Poor
MOON 21%
Monday · 17 Aug
2
Clouded out
MOON 30%
Tuesday · 18 Aug
30
Poor
MOON 39%
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Nearby locations

About this forecast

Conditions for Soma, Gambia 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 →