Stargazing near Dallas–Fort Worth tonight

Copper Breaks and the Hill Country DSPs are the nearest Bortle-2 escapes.

Updated: · Tonight: Friday, August 14, 2026

Best dark-sky site near Dallas–Fort Worth tonight

★ Best tonight

Copper Breaks

Rolling Plains, TX · Bortle 2 · 311 km away

Excellent 11h of clear sky (≤30% cloud) during tonight's astronomical night, mean cloud 0%.

Best clear window: Fri 5:00 p.m. – Sat 3:00 a.m. (11h, 0% 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)

Copper Breaks Lost on windowHours to Enchanted Rock (but earlier rule decided).

Site Verdict Window Win cloud Min cloud Mean cloud Bortle Distance
★ Copper Breaks Excellent (5) 11h 0% 0% 0% 2 311 km
Enchanted Rock Excellent (5) 6h 4% 0% 20% 3 317.2 km
South Llano River Fair (3) 2h 2% 0% 67% 2 384.4 km
Buffalo National River Excellent (5) 10h 0% 0% 0% 2 517.9 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 Dallas–Fort Worth

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: 0% (min 0%). 🔭 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

Copper Breaks

Rolling Plains, TX · Bortle 2 · 311 km away

Excellent 11h of clear sky (≤30% cloud) during tonight's astronomical night, mean cloud 0%.

Best clear window: Fri 5:00 p.m. – Sat 3:00 a.m. (11h, 0% mean cloud)

Moon: New moon · 2% illuminated

Open live forecast → Site guide

Enchanted Rock

Hill Country, TX · Bortle 3 · 317 km away

Excellent 6h of clear sky (≤30% cloud) during tonight's astronomical night, mean cloud 20%.

Best clear window: Fri 6:00 p.m. – Fri 11:00 p.m. (6h, 4% mean cloud)

Moon: New moon · 2% illuminated

Open live forecast → Site guide

South Llano River

Hill Country, TX · Bortle 2 · 384 km away

Fair Short 2h window, otherwise mean cloud 67%. Worth a look if you're nearby.

Best clear window: Fri 9:00 p.m. – Fri 10:00 p.m. (2h, 2% mean cloud)

Moon: New moon · 2% illuminated

Open live forecast → Site guide

Buffalo National River

Northern AR · Bortle 2 · 518 km away

Excellent 10h of clear sky (≤30% cloud) during tonight's astronomical night, mean cloud 0%.

Best clear window: Fri 5:00 p.m. – Sat 2:00 a.m. (10h, 0% mean cloud)

Moon: New moon · 2% illuminated

Open live forecast → Site guide

Frequently asked questions

Where can I stargaze near Dallas–Fort Worth tonight?

Tonight's best site near Dallas–Fort Worth is Copper Breaks (311 km away). Verdict: Excellent. 11h of clear sky (≤30% cloud) during tonight's astronomical night, mean cloud 0%.

What is the closest dark-sky site to Dallas–Fort Worth?

Copper Breaks is the closest, about 311 km from Dallas–Fort Worth (Bortle 2).

Can I see the Milky Way from Dallas–Fort Worth?

Dallas–Fort Worth'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 Copper Breaks, Enchanted Rock, South Llano River, Buffalo National River.

When are northern lights visible near Dallas–Fort Worth?

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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