Stargazing near New York tonight

Bortle 8–9 in Manhattan; Cherry Springs (PA) is the nearest Bortle-2 preserve, ~5h away.

Updated: · Tonight: Friday, August 14, 2026

Best dark-sky site near New York tonight

★ Best tonight

North Frontenac

Frontenac, ON · Bortle 2 · 526 km away

Excellent 8h of clear sky (≤30% cloud) during tonight's astronomical night, mean cloud 22%.

Best clear window: Fri 5:00 p.m. – Sat 12:00 a.m. (8h, 2% 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)

North Frontenac Lost on verdictRank to Cherry Springs (but earlier rule decided).

Site Verdict Window Win cloud Min cloud Mean cloud Bortle Distance
Cherry Springs Good (4) 3h 0% 0% 29% 2 336.7 km
Rappahannock County Park Poor (2) 0h — 32% 73% 4 422.4 km
Shenandoah Poor (2) 1h 13% 13% 85% 4 482.8 km
★ North Frontenac Excellent (5) 8h 2% 0% 22% 2 525.8 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 New York

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: 22% (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

Cherry Springs

PA Wilds · Bortle 2 · 337 km away

Good 3h clear window during astronomical night, mean cloud 29%.

Best clear window: Sat 12:00 a.m. – Sat 2:00 a.m. (3h, 0% mean cloud)

Moon: New moon · 2% illuminated

Open live forecast → Site guide

Shenandoah

Northern VA · Bortle 4 · 483 km away

Poor No sustained clear window; brief gaps possible (min cloud 13%).

Best clear window: Sat 2:00 a.m. – Sat 2:00 a.m. (1h, 13% mean cloud)

Moon: New moon · 2% illuminated

Open live forecast → Site guide

North Frontenac

Frontenac, ON · Bortle 2 · 526 km away

Excellent 8h of clear sky (≤30% cloud) during tonight's astronomical night, mean cloud 22%.

Best clear window: Fri 5:00 p.m. – Sat 12:00 a.m. (8h, 2% mean cloud)

Moon: New moon · 2% illuminated

Open live forecast → Site guide

Frequently asked questions

Where can I stargaze near New York tonight?

Tonight's best site near New York is North Frontenac (526 km away). Verdict: Excellent. 8h of clear sky (≤30% cloud) during tonight's astronomical night, mean cloud 22%.

What is the closest dark-sky site to New York?

Cherry Springs is the closest, about 337 km from New York (Bortle 2).

Can I see the Milky Way from New York?

New York'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 Cherry Springs, North Frontenac.

When are northern lights visible near New York?

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.

Other Ontario cities