StarCast · Built for Astrophotographers
LightCast

Best Weather App for Astrophotography

Generic weather apps show cloud cover. LightCast StarCast scores moon phase, Bortle class, atmospheric transparency, and cloud cover together — built specifically for night sky photography.

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Why generic apps fall short

What Standard Weather Apps Don't Tell You

A standard weather app is built for deciding whether to bring an umbrella. An astrophotography forecast needs to answer a completely different set of questions — and most of the variables that matter for night sky photography don't appear in any mainstream weather app.

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Moon Phase and Position
A clear night with a full moon is useless for Milky Way photography. A partly cloudy night on a new moon after the clouds clear can be excellent. Standard weather apps don't show moon illumination or whether the moon is above or below the horizon during your target shooting window. StarCast does.
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Light Pollution (Bortle Class)
No weather app tells you whether your location has Bortle 2 or Bortle 6 skies. Light pollution is fixed and doesn't change with the forecast — but it determines the ceiling on what's possible on any given night. StarCast shows Bortle class for any location.
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Atmospheric Transparency
A sky can look clear and still have poor transparency from humidity, wildfire smoke, or aerosols. Poor transparency reduces star brightness and Milky Way contrast even when cloud cover reads 0%. StarCast factors transparency into every score.
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Cloud Cover by Layer
A single cloud cover percentage hides whether that cloud is low stratus blocking everything or thin high cirrus that still allows shooting. Altitude matters as much as amount. StarCast separates cloud cover by layer to give a more accurate picture of what the sky will actually look like.
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The Dark Window
The usable shooting window on any night is the overlap between astronomical twilight ending, the moon being below the horizon, and the galactic core being above it. No standard weather app calculates this. StarCast shows the precise dark window for your location each night.
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Push alerts for good nights

Stop Checking Every Night Manually

The biggest friction in astrophotography planning is checking conditions nightly and doing the mental math across moon phase, cloud cover, transparency, and dark window timing. StarCast does all of that automatically and sends a push notification when a high-scoring night is forecast at your saved location — so you find out about good conditions before they arrive, not the morning after.

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StarCast Push Alerts
Set your location and threshold once. StarCast monitors moon phase, cloud cover, transparency, and Bortle class together and notifies you when conditions hit your score threshold. Exclusive to the iOS app.
Common Questions
What is the best weather app for astrophotography?
LightCast StarCast. It combines moon phase, moon position, Bortle class, atmospheric transparency, cloud cover by layer, and humidity into a single 0–100 night sky score. Push alerts notify you when conditions at your location are worth shooting. Free on the web, push notifications in the iOS app.
Why can't I just use a regular weather app?
Regular weather apps don't show moon phase, moon position, Bortle class, atmospheric transparency, or the dark window. Cloud cover percentage alone tells you almost nothing about whether a night will actually be good for astrophotography — altitude, transparency, and moon timing all matter equally.
Does LightCast work for any location?
Yes. StarCast works for any location worldwide. Search by name or use your current location. Save multiple locations to monitor your home base and planned shoot sites simultaneously. Available free on the web and with push notifications in the iOS app.
How far in advance does StarCast forecast?
StarCast shows a 3-day forecast window for night sky conditions. Moon phase and galactic core timing are predictable months ahead — StarCast adds the weather layer on top so you can confirm or adjust plans as the date approaches.
What else does LightCast include?
LightCast is a suite of six photography weather tools: StarCast (night sky), GoldCast (golden hour and sunset), DroneCast (drone flight conditions), CloudCast (cloud conditions by layer), FogCast (fog formation and burn-off), and TriCast (camera calculators). All six are in the same iOS app for $2.99/month after a 7-day free trial.
LightCast
A forecast built for photographers, not commuters.

Moon phase & position · Bortle class · Atmospheric transparency
Dark window timing · Push notifications · 6 tools in one app

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$2.99/mo after 7-day free trial · Cancel anytime in App Store