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Thaba Nchu

-29.209° S   26.839° E  ·  1531 M
67 /100
PEAK
Worth setting up — 11 hours of workable sky from 19:00.
BEST WINDOW 19:00–06:00 · ASTRO DARK 20:00–06:00 · MOON 0%
Transparency
0.67
Seeing
0.73
Cloud
3%
Moon
0%

Good tonight

Hour by hour, local to Thaba Nchu. 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
60
67
54
63
66
59
62
63
65
62
57
24
0
BEST WINDOW
Low cloud
3%
5%
3%
1%
1%
2%
1%
0%
0%
1%
2%
2%
2%
Mid cloud
12%
12%
31%
20%
10%
16%
11%
7%
3%
7%
13%
13%
9%
High cloud
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
Transparency
0.67
0.62
0.59
0.59
0.50
0.44
0.41
0.36
0.34
0.32
0.31
0.32
0.33
Seeing
0.73
0.71
0.70
0.66
0.65
0.63
0.62
0.61
0.62
0.63
0.65
0.67
0.71
Moon clear
down
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 Good · 60/100
Starting from
100
Cloud
−13
Transparency
−12
Seeing
−5
Moonlight
−0
Darkness
−10
Score
60
CLOUD 13% LOW 3% MID 12% HIGH 0% SUN -16.2° MOON -15.6° / 0% WIND 5 TEMP 9°
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 18:30 · OBSERVE 19:00–06:00 · 11H · MEAN 64

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

19212301030507
TWILIGHT BEGINS 06:00
SET UP 18:30 · OBSERVE 19:00–07:00 · 12H · MEAN 63

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

19212301030507
TWILIGHT BEGINS 07:00MOONLIGHT IGNORED FOR THIS TARGET
SET UP 18:30 · OBSERVE 19:00–06:00 · 11H · MEAN 63

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

19212301030507
TWILIGHT BEGINS 06:00
SET UP 18:30 · OBSERVE 19:00–06:00 · 11H · MEAN 52

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

19212301030507
TWILIGHT BEGINS 06:00
SET UP 18:30 · OBSERVE 19:00–06:00 · 11H · MEAN 68

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

19212301030507
TWILIGHT BEGINS 06:00
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The next week of nights

Tonight · 12 Aug
67
Good
MOON 0%
19:00–06:00
Tomorrow · 13 Aug
85
Excellent
MOON 2%
20:00–06:00
Friday · 14 Aug
92
Excellent
MOON 6%
20:00–06:00
Saturday · 15 Aug
90
Excellent
MOON 13%
20:00–21:00
Sunday · 16 Aug
88
Excellent
MOON 21%
20:00–21:00
Monday · 17 Aug
87
Excellent
MOON 30%
20:00–21:00
Tuesday · 18 Aug
88
Excellent
MOON 39%
02:00–03:00
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Nearby locations

About this forecast

Conditions for Thaba Nchu, 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 →