Chicago, United States · America/Chicago
Live lunar conditions
Is tonight a Moon night?
A good Moon night. The best window is 17:00–04:00; cloud cover looks cooperative.
Tonight's verdict
A good Moon night
Good
Best window 17:00–04:00 · 11 hrs · Good (76/100)
Look ESE · 25° above the horizon · 11 hrs
Phase
Waxing Gibbous
Illumination
79%
Next moonrise
Tomorrow 16:09
Next moonset
Tomorrow 03:08
Open-Meteo hourly forecast for 16:00 local · cached up to 20 min
Waxing Gibbous · 79% lit
Altitude 1° · Azimuth 104° · 390,184 km
Northern-hemisphere orientation · surface detail schematic
Tonight's outlook
The next 24 hours, without the guesswork
A deterministic viewing score, a recommended window, and the weather that could change the plan. All times are local to Chicago.
Best viewing window
17:00–04:00
11 hrs · look ESE · 25° altitude · 4% mean cloud
Wed 21 Oct · local time in Chicago
Viewing score
Cloud-weighted, per hour
Good
Mostly clear during the best window
Not a scientific measurement. The index favours a Moon that is easy to see, not necessarily the sharpest surface detail.
Best time to look
Best contiguous window in the next 24 hours
17:00–04:00
11 hrs · look ESE · 25° altitude
Starts Wed 21 Oct local time. The window is the longest qualifying run at or above 50/100, selected by mean score.
Weather snapshot
Hourly forecast for the selected location
Clear
0%
Cloud cover · 0% chance of precipitation
Moon altitude & cloud cover
Next 24 hours · local time · cloud bars rise from the horizon
Hover or focus an hour for details
Weather: Open-Meteo
| Local time | Moon altitude | Cloud cover | Precipitation chance | Score | Light |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wed 21 Oct 16:00 | 2 degrees | 0% | 0% | 45 out of 100 | Daylight |
| Wed 21 Oct 17:00 | 12 degrees | 0% | 0% | 52 out of 100 | Daylight |
| Wed 21 Oct 18:00 | 21 degrees | 1% | 1% | 55 out of 100 | Daylight |
| Wed 21 Oct 19:00 | 30 degrees | 2% | 1% | 74 out of 100 | Night |
| Wed 21 Oct 20:00 | 36 degrees | 2% | 1% | 90 out of 100 | Night |
| Wed 21 Oct 21:00 | 39 degrees | 2% | 1% | 93 out of 100 | Night |
| Wed 21 Oct 22:00 | 39 degrees | 2% | 1% | 93 out of 100 | Night |
| Wed 21 Oct 23:00 | 35 degrees | 3% | 1% | 89 out of 100 | Night |
| Thu 22 Oct 00:00 | 29 degrees | 7% | 0% | 83 out of 100 | Night |
| Thu 22 Oct 01:00 | 21 degrees | 8% | 0% | 76 out of 100 | Night |
| Thu 22 Oct 02:00 | 11 degrees | 10% | 0% | 67 out of 100 | Night |
| Thu 22 Oct 03:00 | 1 degrees | 6% | 0% | 62 out of 100 | Night |
| Thu 22 Oct 04:00 | -9 degrees | 4% | 0% | 0 out of 100 | Night |
| Thu 22 Oct 05:00 | -20 degrees | 4% | 0% | 0 out of 100 | Night |
| Thu 22 Oct 06:00 | -30 degrees | 5% | 0% | 0 out of 100 | Night |
| Thu 22 Oct 07:00 | -40 degrees | 6% | 0% | 0 out of 100 | Twilight |
| Thu 22 Oct 08:00 | -47 degrees | 9% | 0% | 0 out of 100 | Daylight |
| Thu 22 Oct 09:00 | -52 degrees | 7% | 0% | 0 out of 100 | Daylight |
| Thu 22 Oct 10:00 | -53 degrees | 0% | 0% | 0 out of 100 | Daylight |
| Thu 22 Oct 11:00 | -50 degrees | 0% | 0% | 0 out of 100 | Daylight |
| Thu 22 Oct 12:00 | -43 degrees | 0% | 0% | 0 out of 100 | Daylight |
| Thu 22 Oct 13:00 | -34 degrees | 0% | 0% | 0 out of 100 | Daylight |
| Thu 22 Oct 14:00 | -24 degrees | 0% | 0% | 0 out of 100 | Daylight |
| Thu 22 Oct 15:00 | -13 degrees | 4% | 0% | 0 out of 100 | Daylight |
| Thu 22 Oct 16:00 | -2 degrees | 4% | 0% | 0 out of 100 | Daylight |
Why this recommendation
- Waxing Gibbous at 79% illumination. The terminator gives the strongest crater shadows for the next few nights.
- The Moon climbs to about 39° around 21:00.
- Next moonrise: Thu 22 Oct at 16:09.
- Forecast cloud cover averages 4% during the best window, with a 1% chance of precipitation.
Limitations & methodShowHide
- The viewing score is a convenience index, not a scientific measurement of sky quality.
- The Moon disc on this page is phase-correct but its orientation and surface detail are schematic; libration and parallactic angle are not modelled.
Local context
Moonwatching from Chicago
At 41.9° N, the Moon follows a relatively high arc. The disc is shown in northern-hemisphere orientation and surface detail is schematic.
All times on this page use the IANA time zone America/Chicago, including daylight-saving changes. The weather forecast is for coordinates 41.88°, -87.63°. It can differ across a large metropolitan area.
Want a different place? Use the location selector in the header, or view the live default page.
Next lunar event
Calculated phase · local to Chicago
Sun
25
Oct
Full Moon
23:12 local · Sun 25 Oct
Full Moon occurs at 23:12 local time in Chicago on 25 October. The Moon is opposite the Sun and fully illuminated. It is easy to see all night, but surface contrast is lowest because sunlight is nearly head-on.
More in United States
Other city pages
These pages are curated, not generated for every place name. Each has the same calculated live data, a canonical URL, and a manual location selector for anywhere else. Method and sources.