Stargazing near Las Vegas tonight

Death Valley, Great Basin and Grand Canyon-Parashant are all under 4h.

Updated: · Tonight: Friday, August 14, 2026

Best dark-sky site near Las Vegas tonight

★ Best tonight

Death Valley

Mojave, CA/NV · Bortle 1 · 166 km away

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

Best clear window: Fri 4:00 p.m. – Sat 2:00 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)

Death Valley Lost on verdictRank to Parashant (but earlier rule decided).

Site Verdict Window Win cloud Min cloud Mean cloud Bortle Distance
Parashant Poor (2) 1h 1% 1% 86% 1 152.8 km
★ Death Valley Excellent (5) 11h 0% 0% 0% 1 165.5 km
Zion No-go (1) 0h — 44% 94% 3 226.3 km
Cedar Breaks Fair (3) 2h 9% 7% 81% 2 261.2 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 Las Vegas

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

Parashant

NW AZ · Bortle 1 · 153 km away

Poor No sustained clear window; brief gaps possible (min cloud 1%).

Best clear window: Sat 1:00 a.m. – Sat 1:00 a.m. (1h, 1% mean cloud)

Moon: New moon · 2% illuminated

Open live forecast → Site guide

Death Valley

Mojave, CA/NV · Bortle 1 · 166 km away

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

Best clear window: Fri 4:00 p.m. – Sat 2:00 a.m. (11h, 0% mean cloud)

Moon: New moon · 2% illuminated

Open live forecast → Site guide

Cedar Breaks

SW UT · Bortle 2 · 261 km away

Fair Short 2h window, otherwise mean cloud 81%. Worth a look if you're nearby.

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

Moon: New moon · 2% illuminated

Open live forecast → Site guide

Frequently asked questions

Where can I stargaze near Las Vegas tonight?

Tonight's best site near Las Vegas is Death Valley (166 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 Las Vegas?

Parashant is the closest, about 153 km from Las Vegas (Bortle 1).

Can I see the Milky Way from Las Vegas?

Las Vegas'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 Parashant, Death Valley, Zion, Cedar Breaks.

When are northern lights visible near Las Vegas?

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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