Is tonight worth it?
SkyGrade rates from 0–100 whether a night is worth it – from weather, seeing, transparency, the Moon and light pollution. Pick a category; you enter location and date on the respective page.
Deep-sky astrophotography: finding the right night
For faint galaxies, nebulae and star clusters a dark, clear and transparent sky with as little moonlight as possible matters most. SkyGrade combines cloud cover (by altitude layer), transparency, seeing, moon phase and altitude and your location's light pollution into a deep-sky score – including an hourly trend for the night and a 7-night outlook so you can spot the best night of the week.
Planet observing: visibility and conditions
Planets are bright – here steady air (seeing) and sufficient altitude above the horizon matter more than absolute darkness. SkyGrade shows for each planet from Mercury to Neptune whether and when it is visible on the chosen night, how high it stands and how good the conditions are – plus a hint about clear windows between weather fronts.
Moon observation: spotting craters along the terminator
The Moon is not just a source of interference but a rewarding target in its own right – especially away from full moon. Along the terminator, the boundary between lunar day and night, craters, mountains and rilles cast long shadows and stand out in vivid relief. For the chosen night SkyGrade shows the lunar phase, altitude above the horizon and conditions as a score, and recommends the finest formations based on the colongitude – from the naked eye through binoculars to the telescope, including special events such as the Lunar Golden Handle.
Visual observation: with eye, binoculars and telescope
For visual observing with the naked eye, binoculars or a telescope the demands are a little milder than for astrophotography: short clear windows and a moderate moon phase are often enough for a rewarding look. Alongside the deep-sky and planet scores, SkyGrade also reports its own visual score that captures exactly these conditions.
Astrophotography: the right target and imaging time tonight
For astrophotography it matters not only whether the night is clear, but how well a given object stands out against the real, brightened sky – and how much usable exposure time is left. The SkyGrade Astrophoto Planner rates the contrast of each deep-sky object against Bortle, moon and filter, recommends the right filter (none/CLS/UHC/dual-band/narrowband) and estimates the expected integration and the number of frames from the visibility window, weather and your capture system. Beginners simply pick their capture system from smart telescope to cooled astro camera; without a fixed target a shortlist shows the best objects of the night per type.
Moon calendar: plan moon-free nights and phases
For deep-sky work the days around new moon are the most valuable, when no moonlight brightens the sky. The SkyGrade moon calendar shows the lunar phases of the coming weeks for your location, the illuminated fraction and – for every night – the moon-free dark window: the period when the Sun is low enough and the Moon has already set. The darkness threshold can be switched between astronomical and nautical twilight, so even short summer nights stay plannable.
Aurora: real-time chance of northern lights
Whether the northern sky shows aurora depends on solar activity. What matters is the Kp index, the interplanetary magnetic field Bz (a southward direction is the trigger) and the speed of the solar wind. SkyGrade shows these values in near real time from NOAA SWPC and puts them in context for your location – the further north you are, the weaker the storm needed for a visible arc on the horizon.
Where tonight? The best reachable observing site
Sometimes it is worth driving out of the light-polluted city to a darker spot – but where, and is it even worth it tonight? SkyGrade compares curated, freely accessible observing sites by real car driving time and the same realistic deep-sky assessment as the deep-sky tool. For each site you see the driving time, the deep-sky score including the gain over your home location, the best observing window and the Bortle class – plus an optional map. So you can decide in seconds whether and where the drive is worth it tonight.