Stargazing near Phoenix tonight

Flagstaff, Kartchner Caverns and Oracle SP are all IDA-protected within 2–3h.

Updated: · Tonight: Friday, August 14, 2026

Best dark-sky site near Phoenix tonight

★ Best tonight

Kartchner Caverns

Southern AZ · Bortle 3 · 241 km away

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

Best clear window: Fri 4:00 p.m. – Sat 1:00 a.m. (10h, 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)

Kartchner Caverns Lost on windowMeanCloudPct to Oracle SP (but earlier rule decided).

Site Verdict Window Win cloud Min cloud Mean cloud Bortle Distance
Oracle SP Excellent (5) 10h 1% 0% 1% 3 155.5 km
Sunset Crater Excellent (5) 8h 1% 0% 19% 3 219.7 km
★ Kartchner Caverns Excellent (5) 10h 0% 0% 0% 3 241.2 km
Wupatki Excellent (5) 8h 1% 0% 12% 3 242.2 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 Phoenix

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

Oracle SP

Santa Catalinas, AZ · Bortle 3 · 155 km away

Excellent 10h of clear sky (≤30% cloud) during tonight's astronomical night, mean cloud 1%.

Best clear window: Fri 4:00 p.m. – Sat 1:00 a.m. (10h, 1% mean cloud)

Moon: New moon · 2% illuminated

Open live forecast → Site guide

Sunset Crater

Flagstaff, AZ · Bortle 3 · 220 km away

Excellent 8h of clear sky (≤30% cloud) during tonight's astronomical night, mean cloud 19%.

Best clear window: Fri 6:00 p.m. – Sat 1:00 a.m. (8h, 1% mean cloud)

Moon: New moon · 2% illuminated

Open live forecast → Site guide

Kartchner Caverns

Southern AZ · Bortle 3 · 241 km away

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

Best clear window: Fri 4:00 p.m. – Sat 1:00 a.m. (10h, 0% mean cloud)

Moon: New moon · 2% illuminated

Open live forecast → Site guide

Wupatki

Northern AZ · Bortle 3 · 242 km away

Excellent 8h of clear sky (≤30% cloud) during tonight's astronomical night, mean cloud 12%.

Best clear window: Fri 6:00 p.m. – Sat 1:00 a.m. (8h, 1% mean cloud)

Moon: New moon · 2% illuminated

Open live forecast → Site guide

Frequently asked questions

Where can I stargaze near Phoenix tonight?

Tonight's best site near Phoenix is Kartchner Caverns (241 km away). Verdict: Excellent. 10h of clear sky (≤30% cloud) during tonight's astronomical night, mean cloud 0%.

What is the closest dark-sky site to Phoenix?

Oracle SP is the closest, about 155 km from Phoenix (Bortle 3).

Can I see the Milky Way from Phoenix?

Phoenix'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 Oracle SP, Sunset Crater, Kartchner Caverns, Wupatki.

When are northern lights visible near Phoenix?

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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