Stargazing near Denver tonight

Great Sand Dunes and Black Canyon of the Gunnison are Colorado's IDA jewels.

Updated: · Tonight: Friday, August 14, 2026

Best dark-sky site near Denver tonight

★ Best tonight

Curecanti

Western CO · Bortle 2 · 247 km away

Good 3h clear window during astronomical night, mean cloud 40%.

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

Curecanti Lost on verdictRank to Rocky Mountain NP (but earlier rule decided).

Site Verdict Window Win cloud Min cloud Mean cloud Bortle Distance
Rocky Mountain NP Poor (2) 1h 2% 2% 68% 3 89.4 km
Jackson Lake SP Poor (2) 0h — 36% 87% 3 104.3 km
Great Sand Dunes Poor (2) 1h 27% 27% 82% 2 227.7 km
★ Curecanti Good (4) 3h 8% 0% 40% 2 246.8 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 Denver

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: 40% (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

Rocky Mountain NP

Northern CO · Bortle 3 · 89 km away

Poor No sustained clear window; brief gaps possible (min cloud 2%).

Best clear window: Fri 9:00 p.m. – Fri 9:00 p.m. (1h, 2% mean cloud)

Moon: New moon · 2% illuminated

Open live forecast → Site guide

Great Sand Dunes

San Luis Valley, CO · Bortle 2 · 228 km away

Poor No sustained clear window; brief gaps possible (min cloud 27%).

Best clear window: Fri 6:00 p.m. – Fri 6:00 p.m. (1h, 27% mean cloud)

Moon: New moon · 2% illuminated

Open live forecast → Site guide

Curecanti

Western CO · Bortle 2 · 247 km away

Good 3h clear window during astronomical night, mean cloud 40%.

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

Moon: New moon · 2% illuminated

Open live forecast → Site guide

Frequently asked questions

Where can I stargaze near Denver tonight?

Tonight's best site near Denver is Curecanti (247 km away). Verdict: Good. 3h clear window during astronomical night, mean cloud 40%.

What is the closest dark-sky site to Denver?

Rocky Mountain NP is the closest, about 89 km from Denver (Bortle 3).

Can I see the Milky Way from Denver?

Denver'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 Rocky Mountain NP, Jackson Lake SP, Great Sand Dunes, Curecanti.

When are northern lights visible near Denver?

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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