Night Gaze Camp: Aurora Finder

Night Gaze Camp tells you where to camp tonight to see the most stars and the aurora.

IMPORTANT: Night Gaze Camp is an independent app. It does not represent, and is not affiliated with or endorsed by, any government agency. It shows public data from the six official U.S. government sources listed under DATA SOURCES below, and nothing else; the scores, aurora line and sky-darkness estimates are our own calculations.

Open the app and see tonight's best campgrounds near you for stargazing, ranked from 0 to 100 by clouds after dark, moonlight and how dark the sky is. Every card shows the Bortle class (estimated), number of sites, RV length limit, hookups and drive time. Think of it as a dark sky finder and light pollution map built around campgrounds you can actually sleep at.

TONIGHT
• Ranking of federal campgrounds by clouds, moon and sky darkness
• Darkest hours of the night, moon phase, moonrise and moonset
• Cloud cover by hour from the National Weather Service forecast
• Milky Way compass: where the galactic core is right now
• Red night mode that keeps your eyes dark-adapted

MAP
• All federal campgrounds on one map, coloured by tonight's score
• Offline state maps with roads and a light pollution layer, for nights without signal

AURORA FORECAST
• Kp index and a northern lights line based on the NOAA OVATION forecast
• See which campgrounds are inside the aurora line and how far north to drive

STARGAZING TRIPS
• Plan up to 14 nights: one campground per night, picked for dark sky, little moon and clear forecasts
• Export your trip as a PDF or add it to your calendar
• New moon reminder, so you never miss the darkest nights

PRIVATE BY DESIGN
Your location stays on your phone and is used only to sort campgrounds. No account, no ads, no tracking.

FREE AND PRO
Free: the 10 nearest campgrounds ranked for tonight, the map, the aurora line, the Milky Way compass, the new moon reminder, one offline state map and 2-night trips.
Night Gaze Camp Pro is a one-time purchase, not a subscription: it ranks every campground within 200 miles, plans up to 14 nights, exports PDF and calendar files and unlocks all offline state maps. Payment is charged to your Google Play account.

DATA SOURCES (all of the data in the app)
Weather forecast (cloud cover): National Weather Service, https://www.weather.gov/
Aurora and Kp: NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center, https://www.spaceweather.gov/products/aurora-30-minute-forecast
Campgrounds: Recreation Information Database (RIDB), https://ridb.recreation.gov/
National parks: National Park Service, https://www.nps.gov/
State outlines and roads on the map: U.S. Census Bureau, https://www.census.gov/geographies/mapping-files/time-series/geo/tiger-line-file.html
Night-lights imagery behind the sky-darkness estimate: NASA Earth Observatory, https://science.nasa.gov/earth/earth-observatory/
Moon phase, moonrise, moonset and the Milky Way compass are calculated on your phone from astronomical formulas. Source links are also inside the app (More > Data sources).

Sky brightness is estimated from satellite night lights (about one Bortle class of accuracy), not measured. Drive times are rough estimates from distance, not from a routing service. Cloud forecasts change, so check again before you drive.

Terms of Use: https://nightgazecamp.com/terms/
Privacy Policy: https://nightgazecamp.com/privacy/