Stargazing near Los Angeles tonight

Anza-Borrego and Joshua Tree are the LA basin's closest IDA dark-sky escapes.

Updated: · Tonight: Friday, August 14, 2026

Best dark-sky site near Los Angeles tonight

★ Best tonight

Death Valley

Mojave, CA/NV · Bortle 1 · 300 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 bortle to Anza-Borrego (but earlier rule decided).

Site Verdict Window Win cloud Min cloud Mean cloud Bortle Distance
Anza-Borrego Excellent (5) 11h 0% 0% 0% 2 192.1 km
Joshua Tree Excellent (5) 11h 0% 0% 0% 3 217 km
★ Death Valley Excellent (5) 11h 0% 0% 0% 1 300.3 km
Pinnacles Excellent (5) 11h 0% 0% 0% 3 380.3 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 Los Angeles

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

Anza-Borrego

Colorado Desert, CA · Bortle 2 · 192 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

Joshua Tree

Southern CA · Bortle 3 · 217 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

Death Valley

Mojave, CA/NV · Bortle 1 · 300 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

Pinnacles

Central CA · Bortle 3 · 380 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

Frequently asked questions

Where can I stargaze near Los Angeles tonight?

Tonight's best site near Los Angeles is Death Valley (300 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 Los Angeles?

Anza-Borrego is the closest, about 192 km from Los Angeles (Bortle 2).

Can I see the Milky Way from Los Angeles?

Los Angeles'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 Anza-Borrego, Joshua Tree, Death Valley, Pinnacles.

When are northern lights visible near Los Angeles?

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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