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Vaalbank

-25.152° S   28.856° E  ·  983 M
72 /100
PEAK
Worth setting up — 6 hours of workable sky from 00:00.
BEST WINDOW 00:00–06:00 · ASTRO DARK 20:00–06:00 · MOON 0%
Transparency
0.64
Seeing
0.89
Cloud
4%
Moon
0%

Good tonight

Hour by hour, local to Vaalbank. 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
2
10
1
21
69
72
72
71
69
67
12
0
BEST WINDOW
Low cloud
95%
77%
72%
98%
72%
6%
3%
2%
2%
6%
6%
5%
3%
Mid cloud
100%
100%
61%
16%
5%
6%
3%
2%
2%
2%
2%
1%
1%
High cloud
0%
0%
2%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
3%
20%
58%
Transparency
0.64
0.63
0.64
0.63
0.59
0.54
0.50
0.46
0.43
0.42
0.41
0.38
0.37
Seeing
0.78
0.72
0.71
0.73
0.74
0.77
0.81
0.82
0.83
0.84
0.86
0.89
0.89
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 Clouded out · 0/100
Starting from
100
Cloud
−99
Transparency
−0
Seeing
−0
Moonlight
−0
Darkness
−0
Score
0
CLOUD 100% LOW 95% MID 100% HIGH 0% SUN -17.4° MOON -16.7° / 0% WIND 4 TEMP 13°
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 23:30 · OBSERVE 00:00–06:00 · 6H · MEAN 72

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

19212301030507
CLOUD BREAKS 00:00TWILIGHT BEGINS 06:00
SET UP 23:30 · OBSERVE 00:00–07:00 · 7H · MEAN 72

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

19212301030507
CLOUD BREAKS 00:00CLOUD RETURNS 07:00MOONLIGHT IGNORED FOR THIS TARGET
SET UP 23:30 · OBSERVE 00:00–06:00 · 6H · MEAN 69

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

19212301030507
CLOUD BREAKS 00:00TWILIGHT BEGINS 06:00
SET UP 23:30 · OBSERVE 00:00–06:00 · 6H · MEAN 60

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

19212301030507
CLOUD BREAKS 00:00TWILIGHT BEGINS 06:00
SET UP 23:30 · OBSERVE 00:00–06:00 · 6H · MEAN 76

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

19212301030507
CLOUD BREAKS 00:00TWILIGHT BEGINS 06:00
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The next week of nights

Tonight · 12 Aug
72
Good
MOON 0%
00:00–06:00
Tomorrow · 13 Aug
74
Good
MOON 2%
02:00–06:00
Friday · 14 Aug
77
Excellent
MOON 6%
19:00–06:00
Saturday · 15 Aug
85
Excellent
MOON 13%
02:00–03:00
Sunday · 16 Aug
83
Excellent
MOON 21%
02:00–03:00
Monday · 17 Aug
83
Excellent
MOON 30%
20:00–21:00
Tuesday · 18 Aug
78
Excellent
MOON 39%
02:00–03:00
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Nearby locations

About this forecast

Conditions for Vaalbank, 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 →