Clear skies are
essential for astronomers, but depending on where you live they may be few and
far between. If you want to do some star gazing, but aren't sure if the weather
will cooperate, take a look at the clear sky clock (http://cleardarksky.com/csk/). All you
need to do is click "find a chart" and enter your location (or chose
a state then city). What you'll see is a chart telling you all sorts of weather
predictions, but the most important one is the cloud cover. Above is a clear
sky chart for Kitt Peak, AZ, and you want to look at the top row of boxes to
see if the sky will be clear. The color of the box at a given time tells you if
there will be clouds in the sky (white), or if the sky will be clear (dark
blue). So it looks like the sky will be cloudy before midnight Saturday, and
then crystal clear the next day and a half. Below the chart there will be a
description of how to read the chart and what the colors correspond to exactly.
The chart is usually very accurate and astronomers use it all the time while
observing. So the next time you want to go to a local star party, but aren’t
sure if you should bother going because it might be cloudy, take a look at the
clear sky chart before you head out.
