I recently traveled to go stargazing and was amazed at how vivid the night sky was. This inspired me to find ways to view it more often at home. (Due to a smog-infested sky in LA, I cannot see stars. I can, though, see the moon.)

After looking for apps that could both educate me and provide details on the night sky, I found Ouranos, an astronomy weather app that uses artificial intelligence to analyze astronomical data in your location. 

Considering the moon is Earth’s “natural satellite,” I was curious about ways to tap into its functionality — especially knowing that each phase is visible without a telescope and will likely appear even despite human-made air pollution.

What is Ouranos, and how does it use AI?

Ouranos was created by software engineer company Pleiode in 2022 and announced pretty casually by its founder through the Cloudy Night forum. There’s both a free version of Ouranos and a paid version, which is roughly $2/month  — or a $30 one-time unlimited fee — that unlocks 16-day extended forecasts, cloud and 15-minute forecasts, planet visibility graphs, astronomical events and an interactive light pollution map.

Ouranos’ main use is determining when sky conditions are optimal for viewing, saving you the time of comparing data yourself. (Not that I was doing that anyway.) Its AI algorithm helps generate these insights, noting when and where to observe.

If you’re looking for personalized forecasts and predictions, its AI can help generate this for you and provide information based on your specific weather conditions with generated output. 

It can also help make sure you don’t miss any full moons, supermoons or moon eclipses. For more on stargazing, here’s how to use AI to find a celestial constellation.

For those interested in Ouranos’s AI usage in comparison to data rights, there’s not much information on its own data privacy regulations, though there was info on what it doesn’t allow from its users. Ouranos didn’t immediately respond to a request for more information on this.

How to use Ouranos to track moonlit nights 

Using Ouranos to track your next sky-viewing session is pretty simple — and it even includes tips to help you get the most out of your observation.

1. Ouranos is available on the iOS App Store and Google Play. There’s no sign-up required, and its free version has a decent amount of capabilities. Be sure to allow location access to enable accurate weather and planet/moon sightings. 
2. On the home screen, you can check out features like current weather, sky quality, cloud cover, transparency, humidity and wind conditions.  
3. You can tap Best Times for AI-guided star and moongazing windows, and also check moon and planet timings, plus light pollution levels. (Ouranos Pro users can also view moon phase and illumination, a 16-day extended forecast, and local rise and set times.)

This is most useful for moon observation based on timing, current environment and current light pollution maps — ideal for moon watchers or those who like the educational component of viewing and tracking the moon.

Should you use Ouranos?

If you love watching the moon or planning nights under the stars — without much effort — Ouranos absolutely helps with that. I like that it doesn’t overwhelm you with data, and the learning curve isn’t steep. It gives you just enough to step outside with more intention and a better understanding of the viewing process.

But if you’re seeking education around finding and naming constellations or why moon phases are considered waxing or waning, Ouranos is probably too basic.

This app serves more to optimize the process of preparing for moon gazing, with additional information about sky clarity, moonlight and its presence in a sea of sky pollution. 

Beyond all the self-development-adjacent talk about what moon phases represent, I see the moon as a scientific discovery with shifts that can at least inspire us to look outward and observe nature’s systematic, if cyclical, process.

And now, with AI, you can check in on its cycle at every point within its phase, wherever you are in the world.