A Cosmic Captures tool · In early access
Plan your deep-sky night in minutes, not hours.
What's up tonight, when it peaks, what the Moon will do to it, and whether it fits your gear — worked out for your location, before you go outside.
Why I built it
Planning a night shouldn't take longer than the session itself.
I'm Tim, the astrophotographer behind Cosmic Captures. Most of my clear nights used to start the same way: a stack of apps and charts, half an hour of cross-checking what was visible, high enough, not drowned by the Moon, and actually framable with my scope — before I could even begin.
The clear sky was burning while I planned. I wanted that whole answer in one place, in under a minute, so a good night goes to imaging instead of admin.
So I built TonightPlan for myself first — and then for anyone shooting the same sky.
Curated, not catalogued
When 200 is more than 40,000
Most sky apps hand you a database — tens of thousands of objects, and the cold job of working out which few are even worth pointing a camera at. TonightPlan starts from the other end. Around 200 deep-sky targets, each one chosen because it genuinely rewards a camera, each one written up and shot. On any clear night, that still leaves you several dozen good options — few enough to decide fast, never so many you freeze. You spend the night imaging, not scrolling.
Inside the app
Everything you need to commit to a target.
A real plan for every target. Open any of the targets, and you get the whole picture: tonight's peak time and altitude, Moon distance and impact, the darkest sky you'll need, the gear that suits it, and a suggested integration time. No tab-juggling — just the decision.
Tonight's shortlist
Targets sorted for tonight specifically, with a pick of the night when conditions line up for something special.
Real images, real gear
No Hubble frames, no observatory hero shots. Every target shows a photo taken with the kind of gear you actually use — so what you see is what a clear night and your own setup can really produce.
The altitude chart
Every target gets an altitude curve for the night — when it clears the horizon, when it peaks, when it sinks back down. The best window to shoot is obvious at a glance, with no mental arithmetic from rise-and-set times.
It reads the Moon
TonightPlan knows tonight's Moon — its phase, how bright it is, and how high it rides in your dark window — and tunes the night's recommendations to match. Under a bright Moon, it points you to narrowband emission targets and sets the washed-out broadband ones aside; under dark skies, it opens everything back up.
Also inside
Plain language — Descriptions written without the nerdy jargon, so the app makes sense whether it's your first target or your thousandth.
Both hemispheres — Targets and altitudes worked out for wherever you shoot, north or south of the equator.
Sort by visual impact — Order the whole list from quiet subjects to outright showstoppers, best first.
The Rises slider — Filter for the targets climbing into the coming season, not just what's up tonight.
A growing catalogue — New targets added regularly; the list keeps expanding.
Frequent updates — Actively developed, with steady improvements and refinements.
Who it’s for
Built for the gear you already own.
Smart scope, traditional deep-sky rig, or DSLR. TonightPlan recommends targets based on what's visible, bright enough, and the right size. The difficulty hints tell you what's comfortable for your setup; they never lock anything out. Whether you're running a Seestar on the balcony or a refractor and a cooled camera under dark skies, you're working from the same plan.
Nothing to install
Open it in your browser, on any device.
TonightPlan is a web app — no app store, no download, no setup. Open the link on your phone, tablet, or computer and you're planning. It's always the latest version, and you can add it to your home screen so it sits right beside your other apps.
Early access
It's open now — to subscribers.
I'm rolling TonightPlan out gradually ahead of the public release. Newsletter subscribers and Patreon supporters can use it today; everyone else gets it at launch. Join the newsletter, and you're in now — and first to know when it opens to all.
A deep-sky session planner from Cosmic Captures. In early access.