PLAN THE NIGHT

Plan The Night is a deep sky planning tool for astronomers and astrophotographers. It calculates tonight's best targets based on your location, the current moon phase, and each object's visibility window — then gives you a clear go/no-go for your observing session.

The top 10 targets ranked by a scoring algorithm that weighs altitude window, moon interference, object type, and transit timing. Tap any card to see full details. Tap the ▾ to collapse this section when browsing.

Search by Messier number (M42), NGC/IC designation (NGC 7000), common name (Andromeda), object type (nebula), or constellation (Orion). Filter pills narrow by object category. Sort by best imaging window, brightness, angular size, or name.

Each target gets a status based on four criteria:

Plan for any future date — useful for scheduling a trip to a dark site. Change location by typing a city name, dark sky park, or latitude/longitude (e.g. "36.0, -107.9"). The ◎ button returns to your current GPS location.

The Bortle scale (1–9) measures sky darkness. Bortle 1 is the darkest sky on Earth; Bortle 9 is inner city. The app attempts to detect your sky quality automatically, or you can set it manually. Dark skies (Bortle 1–3) unlock far more targets than suburban skies (Bortle 5+).

Tap + on any card to add it to your viewing plan. Swipe right on mobile. The plan can be exported in three formats:

Object images are served by the Aladin Sky Atlas from CDS, Strasbourg. Galaxies use PanSTARRS DR1 color imagery when available; all other objects use the Digitized Sky Survey 2 (DSS2) color composite.

Plan The Night © 2026 John Williams · terrazoom.com
A companion app to Planetock — the real-time planet clock.
All rights reserved. Made with love in northern New Mexico.