SKY · STARGAZING · USA
Is Tonight Good for Stargazing in Washington, D.C.?
Clear, dark skies tonight (about 33% cloud) with the Moon well out of the way. This is about as good as it gets — from a dark site away from city lights you'll see the Milky Way, faint stars, and any active meteor shower.
Worth looking for: Everything: planets, constellations, the Milky Way, meteor showers and faint deep-sky objects — given a dark horizon.
Live cloud reading
How dark is the sky over Washington, D.C.?
Like most large cities, the centre of Washington, D.C. sits high on the Bortle scale (around class 8), so the Milky Way and faint stars are lost to the glow. For dark sky, head well away from the city lights.
Even on the clearest, Moonless night, a bright city sky limits what you can see. For the Milky Way and faint stars from Washington, D.C., you'll need to travel well clear of the city lights.
Washington, D.C. right now
More sky over Washington, D.C.
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Live cloud cover over Washington, D.C., on the full map.