Astrophotography · Ayrshire & Galloway
BallantraeSouth Carrick coast · 55.102°N 5.005°W Quiet shore, low light pollution, wide view west and north.
Tonight
No chance7
No usable window
Unlikely: low cloud, bright moon up, windy for most of the night.
Dark 19:26–06:43 · Moon 79% lit, rises 16:36, sets 01:43
Thursday 22 Oct night
Fair47
Best window 19:00–21:00
Some chances 19:00–21:00, held back by bright moon up. Be ready to move.
Dark 19:24–06:45 · Moon 86% lit, rises 16:44, sets 03:03
Friday 23 Oct night
Fair30
Best window 21:00–23:00
Some chances 21:00–23:00, held back by bright moon up, windy. Be ready to move.
Dark 19:21–06:47 · Moon 93% lit, rises 16:52, sets 04:25
Saturday 24 Oct night
No chance0
No usable window
Unlikely: mid-level cloud, bright moon up, rain, windy for most of the night.
Dark 19:19–05:49 · Moon 97% lit, rises 17:00, sets 05:50
Hour by hour · Ballantrae
Aurora tonight
Kp 4.7 max forecast
Slight: camera only, very dark northern horizon Clear skies to the north matter most; the coast spots and Loch Doon have the best northern views.
Kp: NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center 3-day forecast (3-hourly; faded bars are observed). Status: AuroraWatch UK, Lancaster University.
How the score works
Each hour gets a score from 0 to 100. We start at 100 and multiply by:
Cloud : (1 − low) × (1 − 0.9 × mid) × (1 − 0.6 × high). Low cloud blocks everything; thin high cloud only dims the sky.Darkness : 1 when the Sun is more than 18° below the horizon, 0.6 in astronomical twilight (12–18°), 0 before that.Moon : up to −60% when a bright Moon is high; no penalty when it has set.Rain : 0 if 0.1 mm or more is forecast.WispAyr Weather · weather.wispayr.online. Forecasts: Open-Meteo (blending Met Office UKV, ECMWF and other national models). Warnings: Met Office (Crown copyright). Aviation: aviationweather.gov. Space weather: NOAA SWPC. Maps: Natural Earth. Always check official Met Office warnings before making safety decisions.
S = seeing, T = transparency, from 7Timer ASTRO (1 best, 8 worst; 3-hourly, coarse model). Not used in the score.
Visibility : 0.3 under 2 km (fog), 0.75 under 8 km (haze).
Dew / fog risk : 0.85 when the air is within 2 °C of its dew point or humidity is 95%+. Bring a lens heater.
Wind : 0.85 above 15 mph and 0.6 above 25 mph (tripod shake).Excellent is 70+, Good 50+, Fair 30+, Poor 10+. The best window is the run of hours within 15 points of the night’s best. Aurora and 7Timer seeing are shown separately and are not in the score.
Weather: Open-Meteo best match (Met Office UKV, ECMWF), hourly, fetched 17:53 UK. Sun and Moon: calculated with SunCalc. Seeing/transparency: 7Timer ASTRO. Times are UK local.