Shutter Scout

Stop driving out to shoot fog.

You know the feeling. You pack the bag, drive ninety minutes to the coast, and the marine layer is sitting on the water. Or you skip a night that looked mediocre on paper, and the internet fills up with the aurora you missed.

Shutter Scout ends the guessing. It watches the spots you actually shoot, reads the atmosphere, the moon, the solar wind and the tides, and gives you one straight answer:

GO. MARGINAL. STAY HOME.

That's the whole point. Not another wall of numbers to interpret at 9 PM. A decision, with all the reasoning underneath it if you want to check the work.

WHEN IT SAYS GO, IT TELLS YOU HOW

Every verdict comes with the shot: the exact window, where to stand, which direction to face, and the settings to start from. Core rising to 25 degrees in the south, clean until 12:22 AM, 20mm at f/2.8, 15 seconds before the stars trail.

A COMPLETE AURORA SUITE, NOT A KP NUMBER

Most aurora apps show you Kp and stop. Shutter Scout runs live solar wind (Bz, Bt, speed, density), NOAA's OVATION model for your exact coordinates, substorm nowcasting from GOES magnetometers, a 27-day outlook, and a 3D magnetosphere you can orbit with your finger. Push alerts fire when your threshold is crossed, including official NOAA storm warnings, often before the sky lights up. It is robust enough to be its own app. It's included.

EMBERLIGHT: KNOW THE COLOR BEFORE IT HAPPENS

Sunrise and sunset scored 0 to 100, hours ahead, from cloud structure at three altitudes, humidity, and the clarity of the air. Plus a 700-mile color map so you can see where the good light is landing and drive toward it.

LIVE VIEW: POINT YOUR PHONE AT THE SKY

Hold up your camera and see the Milky Way's arc, the moon's path with rise and set markers, constellations, planets, comets, meteor radiants, the ISS, and where the next eclipse will stand, drawn over the live view at your location. Scrub time forward to plan the composition before dark.

THE REST OF THE KIT

Night Sky Planner with verdicts and altitude charts for the moon, the core, and 25+ deep-sky targets Shot Alignment Finder for when the moon lines up behind your landmark Eclipse Awareness: every solar and lunar eclipse through 2040, with the path of totality on a globe ISS Tracker with visible passes, plus Sun and Moon transit chasing and a map of the crossing corridor Planetary conjunctions flagged two days ahead, timed to your sky Comet Watch, brightest first Meteor showers with honest hourly rates, derated for moonlight Bio Blue bioluminescence potential on the coast Tides with king and minus flags, per beach, with water temperature Sky Cover, radar, smoke and satellite imagery Mountain weather by elevation band: base, your spot, and summit Darklight, the darkest sky near you Lightning tracker with proximity alerts (a planning tool, not a safety system; always follow official guidance) Red Light Mode to protect your night vision Ask Scout, an on-device assistant that knows tonight's conditions

BUILT BY A NIGHTSCAPE PHOTOGRAPHER

Every photograph in these screenshots was taken by the developer, on the nights this app is designed to find. It exists because he got tired of driving out to shoot fog.

Free to use. Pro unlocks the full planning suite.

Forecasts are forecasts, and the sky is under no obligation to agree. But you miss every shot you don't take.