StarsOut
Is tonight good for stargazing in Freiburg?
Great night tonight
Clear skies and dark conditions. Go outside.
Freiburg
Tonight's score
8.1
out of 10
Cautious estimate
Models split — score biased toward the cloudier forecast.
Sun ↓ 18:40Dark 20:23–06:0532% cloud, 20:23–06:05
Best 2 hours
9.702:00–04:00
Evening, 21–01
8.921:00–01:00
Best this week
6.8Fri, Oct 16
Parts of the night. The score above covers the whole dark window.
Moon
Waxing Crescent
26% lit
Moon doesn’t interfere — perfect darkness
Moon up: 13:18–20:46
Visible in daylight from 13:18 until sunset
Full moon: Oct 26
Right now at LFGA, 18 min ago
Clear · 0%
Airport weather report 38 km away. The score above is the forecast for tonight after dark.
Sky quality tonight
Best 2 hours: 02:00–04:00This week’s nights
Europe/BerlinHow the score works
60% weight
Cloud cover
Averaged over the whole dark window, layer by layer. Low cloud blocks everything; thin high cirrus still lets bright stars through.
40% weight
Moon darkness
A new moon boosts the score. A bright Moon only costs points while it is actually above the horizon in the dark hours, and more the higher it stands.
Stargazing around Freiburg
What you can realistically see from the city
- The Moon and the bright planets (Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Mars when it is close) show up even from a light-polluted centre on a clear night.
- Bright stars and constellations are easy. Through binoculars, the Pleiades and the Orion Nebula (winter) still stand out; faint galaxies do not.
Darkness through the year
- Freiburg gets full astronomical darkness every night of the year.
- Around the winter solstice you get about 11.8 hours of full darkness.
- Nights with 9+ hours of full darkness: October – February.
- The bright core of the Milky Way (in Sagittarius) never climbs more than 13° above the southern horizon from Freiburg, so it hides behind haze and buildings.
- The summer Milky Way through Cygnus is the one to look for: its brightest star, Deneb, passes 87° high.
Stargazing in Freiburg: questions
When does it get properly dark in Freiburg?
Every night of the year reaches full astronomical darkness. The longest dark nights, around the winter solstice, give about 11.8 hours of full darkness. Months with 9+ hours: October – February.
Can you see the Milky Way from Freiburg?
From Freiburg's latitude the Milky Way's core peaks at only 13° above the horizon, so the band to look for is the summer Milky Way through Cygnus, which passes 87° high on dark nights from July to October.
What is the best time of year for stargazing in Freiburg?
For long, fully dark nights: October – February. Around the winter solstice there are about 11.8 hours of full darkness. Check the score before you go; clouds decide more than the calendar.