Stargazing near Atlanta tonight

Stephen C. Foster in the Okefenokee is Georgia's IDA-certified Bortle-2 gem.

Updated: · Tonight: Friday, August 14, 2026

Best dark-sky site near Atlanta tonight

★ Best tonight

Stephen Foster SP

Okefenokee, GA · Bortle 2 · 377 km away

Excellent 7h of clear sky (≤30% cloud) during tonight's astronomical night, mean cloud 23%.

Best clear window: Fri 8:00 p.m. – Sat 2:00 a.m. (7h, 5% mean cloud)

Moon: New moon · 2% illuminated

Open live forecast → Site guide

How we picked tonight's best site

Show ranking debug panel (4 candidates, 7-level tie-break)

Stephen Foster SP Lost on verdictRank to PARI (but earlier rule decided).

Site Verdict Window Win cloud Min cloud Mean cloud Bortle Distance
PARI Good (4) 3h 6% 1% 39% 3 213.3 km
Mayland Earth to Sky Fair (3) 2h 0% 0% 48% 3 311.5 km
★ Stephen Foster SP Excellent (5) 7h 5% 1% 23% 2 376.6 km
Staunton River Fair (3) 2h 9% 6% 72% 3 613.5 km

★ = chosen by tie-break ladder. Lower cloud %, lower Bortle, lower distance = better. Higher windowHours = better.

Tie-break ladder (in order)

  1. verdictRank (desc) — Excellent > Good > Fair > Poor > No-go
  2. windowHours (desc) — Longer clear window wins
  3. windowMeanCloudPct (asc) — Cleaner sky inside the window
  4. tonightMinCloudPct (asc) — Best moment of the night
  5. tonightMeanCloudPct (asc) — Overall sky quality
  6. bortle (asc) — Darker site wins
  7. distanceKm (asc) — Closer wins last

Same metrics are exposed at snapshot.json as bestTonight.tieBreak and closestSites[].tieBreak.

Understand tonight's forecast for Atlanta

Each verdict above blends four limiting factors. Tap a card to learn what it measures, where the number comes from, and how to use it.

📖 How to read the forecast Plain-English breakdown of every row, color and score. 🌙 Moon & tonight's window New moon · 2% illuminated ☁️ Cloud cover & sky score Mean cloud tonight: 23% (min 1%). 🔭 Transparency How clean the air column is — controls how faint a star you can see. 🔥 Smoke & AQI Wildfire smoke and PM2.5 from US-AQI — kills transparency before clouds do.

All 4 closest sites, ranked by distance

PARI

Western NC · Bortle 3 · 213 km away

Good 3h clear window during astronomical night, mean cloud 39%.

Best clear window: Fri 6:00 p.m. – Fri 8:00 p.m. (3h, 6% mean cloud)

Moon: New moon · 2% illuminated

Open live forecast → Site guide

Mayland Earth to Sky

Western NC · Bortle 3 · 312 km away

Fair Short 2h window, otherwise mean cloud 48%. Worth a look if you're nearby.

Best clear window: Fri 11:00 p.m. – Sat 12:00 a.m. (2h, 0% mean cloud)

Moon: New moon · 2% illuminated

Open live forecast → Site guide

Stephen Foster SP

Okefenokee, GA · Bortle 2 · 377 km away

Excellent 7h of clear sky (≤30% cloud) during tonight's astronomical night, mean cloud 23%.

Best clear window: Fri 8:00 p.m. – Sat 2:00 a.m. (7h, 5% mean cloud)

Moon: New moon · 2% illuminated

Open live forecast → Site guide

Staunton River

Southern VA · Bortle 3 · 613 km away

Fair Short 2h window, otherwise mean cloud 72%. Worth a look if you're nearby.

Best clear window: Fri 7:00 p.m. – Fri 8:00 p.m. (2h, 9% mean cloud)

Moon: New moon · 2% illuminated

Open live forecast → Site guide

Frequently asked questions

Where can I stargaze near Atlanta tonight?

Tonight's best site near Atlanta is Stephen Foster SP (377 km away). Verdict: Excellent. 7h of clear sky (≤30% cloud) during tonight's astronomical night, mean cloud 23%.

What is the closest dark-sky site to Atlanta?

PARI is the closest, about 213 km from Atlanta (Bortle 3).

Can I see the Milky Way from Atlanta?

Atlanta's urban sky is too light-polluted for naked-eye Milky Way. For a clear view of the galactic band, drive to a Bortle 1–3 site such as PARI, Mayland Earth to Sky, Stephen Foster SP, Staunton River.

When are northern lights visible near Atlanta?

Aurora is visible during geomagnetic storms with Kp ≥ 5–6. Check the live aurora outlook and head to the closest dark site with a clean northern horizon.

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