Shutter Speed

Shoot Forecast

Last updated: 2026-10-27

What it does

Shoot Forecast puts today's sun, moon, eclipse, and aurora highlights on one screen, along with weather, tides, meteor showers and comets, and more. It is a quick read on whether tonight is worth shooting.

What you need

  • A location. Set one with the Location picker at the top of the screen (Current Location or a saved location). Without one, the location-based cards show a dash.
  • A network connection for the live cards: Weather, Tides, Lens Fog Risk, Fog Forecast, and the Aurora forecast. The sun, moon, eclipse, meteor shower, comet, and Milky Way cards are calculated on the device.
  • The Moon card's phase and illumination need no location. Moonrise and moonset do.

How to use it

  1. Set your location.
  2. Scroll through the cards. Each shows a few headline values for today.
  3. Tap a card to open its full tool, where one is available. Some cards are read-only summaries.
  4. Tap the refresh icon at the top right to reload the live data (Weather, Tides, Lens Fog Risk, Aurora). It does not recalculate the sun, moon, or other calculated cards.
  5. To hide or reorder cards, tap Customize. Check or uncheck a card to show or hide it, use the up and down arrows to reorder, then tap Done. On a phone you can also press and hold a card's drag handle to reorder. Your choices are remembered.
  6. On an iPhone with Apple Intelligence turned on, a sparkle button at the top reads the cards for you. Tap it to open Today's Summary, a short written summary of the cards you have showing. It is written on the device. If it cannot finish, tap Try Again. Tap Done to close it. The button does not appear on the web or on an iPhone without Apple Intelligence.

Reading the results

There is no single score. You judge the night from the cards:

  • Sun: Right Now (the current period, with a countdown to the next change), UV Index, Sunrise, Sunset, plus the same light dial as Light Conditions, showing the day's light periods and where the sun is now.
  • Moon: a line with the phase name, illumination percentage, and the full moon's name when it has one, then a dome showing the moon's pass across the sky with Moonrise and Moonset at its ends and a pill such as "Sets in" or "Rises in". Below it, how many days into the 29.5-day lunar cycle. Without a location, it shows the moon only.
  • Milky Way: tonight's verdict (Clear Window, Partial Window, or Not Visible) and the same dome as Milky Way Visibility, colored by Sky not dark, Clear window, and Moonlit. If the core never rises at your location, it shows a note instead.
  • Eclipses: Next Lunar and Next Solar eclipse, with type, date, and time.
  • Aurora: Aurora Tonight shows Yes when tonight's forecast Kp reaches the Kp needed at your location, otherwise No.
  • Meteors & Comets: the showers active today with their ZHR (and best viewing window once a location is set), plus the next comet.
  • Shooting Conditions: Lens Fog Risk, Light Quality (from cloud cover), and Wind Conditions (Beaufort force and description), taken from the Weather card. Tap it to open Weather.
  • Weather, Tides, Lens Fog Risk, Fog Forecast: short summaries that open their own tools.

Tips

  • Check the Moon card first for astro work: a bright Moon washes out meteors and the Milky Way.
  • A dash means no location is set. "Unavailable" means the live data could not load; try refresh.