OUR MISSION
Helping you judge whether tonight is worth the drive while keeping uncertainty visible.
WHY DARKEST HOUR
A stargazing decision usually means piecing together forecasts, space-weather observations, sky-quality context and practical location information. Those inputs have different timestamps, coverage and confidence.
Darkest Hour is being built around one honest question: is tonight worth the drive? The product separates provider forecasts, observed feeds, modelled estimates and unavailable inputs instead of presenting them as one certain answer.
THE TEAM
Darkest Hour Product Team
Product & Engineering
We build the Tonight decision, place-search and planning surfaces. Public claims are expected to match verified runtime behaviour and the recorded boundaries of each source.
Research Contributors
Content & Data Team
Our guides combine public astronomy references, official access information, provider data and product specifications. We do not claim hands-on testing unless a guide documents it explicitly.
How We Research & Write
Guides are evaluated against these editorial checks. Publication is not represented as hands-on testing or current verification unless the page evidence supports that claim:
Evidence-Led Gear Comparisons
Product recommendations are editorial comparisons based on published specifications, fit for the stated use case and value at the time of review. Prices and availability can change.
Location Verification
Location guides combine official access sources with clearly labelled modelled Bortle/SQM context. A validated VIIRS raster lookup is not connected yet and is not presented as live precision data.
Regular Updates
Publication and review dates are shown separately. If a guide has not been rechecked, we keep its original publication date and direct readers to report corrections.
Transparent Affiliates
Partner links remain disabled until an approved account identifier is configured. Any future affiliate link will be disclosed before the recommendation; inclusion is not proof of hands-on testing or a paid ranking.
WHAT WE BELIEVE
Preservation
Promoting the preservation of dark sky environments for future generations.
Accessibility
Making the night sky accessible to everyone, regardless of technical expertise.
Data Accuracy
Separating live provider inputs, modelled estimates, beta features and unavailable feeds so users can judge confidence.
Our Data Sources
Each runtime input is labelled by source and delivery type. Current coverage is deliberately narrower than a global all-in-one sky platform:
Sky-quality model
Current Bortle/SQM context uses calibrated city light-dome and dark-site anchors. VIIRS raster validation remains a planned upgrade.
MET Norway
Locationforecast supplies bounded weather forecasts such as cloud cover, humidity and wind. Provider timestamps and cache state are retained; seeing and transparency remain unavailable.
Darkest Hour local place catalog
A limited local place catalog supports selected cities, curated dark-sky anchors and explicit coordinates. It is not a live global geocoder or navigation service.
NOAA SWPC
The planetary K-index product is used as an observed space-weather input when available. The interface labels its delivery type and timestamp separately from forecasts.
Get in Touch
Have questions, suggestions, or just want to share your latest night sky photo? We'd love to hear from you.