White Sands stargazing forecast — Friday, August 14

Best observing window tonight

Fri 4:00 p.m. – Fri 5:00 p.m. (2h, 2% mean cloud)

Astronomical night

Fri 1:50 p.m. → Sat 12:28 a.m.

Moon

New moon · 2% illuminated

Mean cloud (during night)

59%   (min 1%)

Site

White Sands protects the world's largest gypsum dune field, glowing an eerie white under starlight. The park runs monthly moonlit hikes onto the dunes and, separately, full-moon evening events — a rare chance to walk the dunes after dark.

Drive from Toronto: The visitor center is on Highway 70, about 15 miles south-west of Alamogordo, New Mexico.

Best time of year: Ranger-led Moonlight Hikes run monthly around the full moon, March through November — book ahead on Recreation.gov.

Citations & data sources

• Open-Meteo Forecast API (cloud, humidity, wind, visibility)
• Open-Meteo astronomical data (sunrise, sunset, moon)
• Bortle scale reference for site darkness
• Editorial guide for White Sands: /sites/white-sands-np.txt
• Structured site data: /sites/white-sands-np.json
• Live MCP server (AI agents): https://koohxdehsweadgdegrly.supabase.co/functions/v1/mcp

This is a build-time snapshot — the live forecast at https://ontarionightsky.com/?site=white-sands-np updates continuously.