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Vakarai

8.133° N   81.433° E  ·  9 M
47 /100
PEAK
Marginal, but there is a 3 hours gap from 02:30.
BEST WINDOW 02:30–05:30 · ASTRO DARK 22:30–05:30 · MOON 0%
Transparency
0.65
Seeing
0.51
Cloud
27%
Moon
0%

Fair tonight

Hour by hour, local to Vakarai. Colour encodes the score and nothing else; every other measurement is luminance.

Sky state
Lighter = daylight and twilight  ·  unshaded = astronomical dark
Score
22
23
00
01
02
03
04
05
06
30
28
25
29
37
40
47
7
0
BEST WINDOW
Low cloud
0%
0%
1%
2%
2%
2%
2%
2%
2%
Mid cloud
13%
13%
23%
9%
4%
1%
0%
2%
0%
High cloud
96%
99%
99%
100%
81%
78%
60%
24%
73%
Transparency
0.64
0.65
0.65
0.63
0.61
0.55
0.52
0.53
0.53
Seeing
0.40
0.31
0.32
0.34
0.36
0.47
0.51
0.47
0.45
Moon clear
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
22 Poor · 30/100
Starting from
100
Cloud
−58
Transparency
−6
Seeing
−5
Moonlight
−0
Darkness
−0
Score
30
CLOUD 96% LOW 0% MID 13% HIGH 96% SUN -56.2° MOON -54.7° / 0% WIND 8 TEMP 29°
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
When a clear gap is worth driving for

Ask how long the gap is relative to your setup time and your exposure length. A two-hour gap is a real session for a visual observer and close to worthless for someone doing four-minute subs on a target that needs three hours.

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 02:00 · OBSERVE 02:30–05:30 · 3H · MEAN 42

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

2200020406
HIGH CLOUD CLEARS 02:30TWILIGHT BEGINS 05:30
SET UP 03:00 · OBSERVE 03:30–05:30 · 2H · MEAN 40

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

2200020406
TWILIGHT BEGINS 05:30SEEING STAYS SOFT THROUGHOUTMOONLIGHT IGNORED FOR THIS TARGET
SET UP 04:00 · OBSERVE 04:30–05:30 · 1H · MEAN 41

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

2200020406
HIGH CLOUD CLEARS 04:30TWILIGHT BEGINS 05:30
NO USABLE WINDOW FOR THIS TARGET TONIGHT

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

2200020406
CONDITIONS STAY BELOW THE USABLE THRESHOLD
SET UP 02:00 · OBSERVE 02:30–05:30 · 3H · MEAN 40

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

2200020406
HIGH CLOUD CLEARS 02:30TWILIGHT BEGINS 05:30
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The next week of nights

Tonight · 12 Aug
47
Fair
MOON 0%
02:30–05:30
Tomorrow · 13 Aug
59
Good
MOON 2%
19:30–00:30
Friday · 14 Aug
51
Fair
MOON 6%
01:30–05:30
Saturday · 15 Aug
33
Poor
MOON 13%
Sunday · 16 Aug
34
Poor
MOON 21%
Monday · 17 Aug
38
Fair
MOON 30%
23:30–00:30
Tuesday · 18 Aug
63
Good
MOON 39%
23:30–00:30
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Nearby locations

About this forecast

Conditions for Vakarai, Sri Lanka 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 →