Night Sky Tonight in Great Basin

The live score above pulls today's forecast and runs it through StarCast's scoring model, which factors in cloud cover, moon illumination, Bortle class, humidity, and atmospheric transparency. Above 70 is an excellent night. Below 40, conditions are poor. The score updates daily.

Great Basin National Park is one of the least light-polluted parks in the country, sitting in the remote Great Basin Desert of Nevada far from any major city. The park holds Gold Tier status from the International Dark-Sky Association. Wheeler Peak at nearly 13,000 feet puts you above much of the atmospheric moisture that affects lower-elevation sites. The ancient bristlecone pine forest near the summit provides gnarled, sculptural foreground that's thousands of years old. Nights here are genuinely dark in a way that's rare in the American West.

The galactic core is visible at Great Basin from March through October. The park hosts an annual Astronomy Festival in September that draws thousands of visitors and dozens of telescopes. Summer nights at elevation are cool even when valley temperatures are high, making Great Basin one of the more comfortable summer stargazing destinations in the region.