About

Nightcompass helps aurora chasers decide when and where to go, using space weather, cloud cover, darkness and safety data. It is independent and privacy-first, and built on public scientific data.

• We don't collect personal data. No accounts, no cookies for tracking, no analytics.
• We don't use tracking pixels or fingerprinting scripts.
• Your location and searches go only to our own Nightcompass Weather Core servers. They are used for your forecast and never stored as a history.
• One optional exception, off by default: if you turn on official weather warnings, our server passes your approximate location (about 1 km) to the national weather service. Coordinates only, never your identity.
• Space-weather data from NOAA reaches you through our own relay. NOAA never sees your requests, and we add no identifiers.
• Your settings (language, units, spot) stay in your browser, on your device.
• We don't sell data. We have no data to sell.
• If ads come one day, they will be contextual only: no tracking, no profiling.
• If you email us, we use your message only to reply.
• This policy is written in plain language on purpose.

Everything Nightcompass shows comes from public scientific and government sources. Each one is listed with what it gives us and the credit it asks for.

• ●NOAA SWPC (opens in new tab) — Kp, solar wind, IMF Bz, aurora oval (OVATION), WSA-ENLIL modelPublic domain
• ●NASA IMAP I-ALiRT (opens in new tab) — Backup real-time solar wind when NOAA's feed is interruptedCourtesy of NASA
• ●WDC for Geomagnetism, Kyoto (opens in new tab) — Dst storm index (real-time, provisional), via NOAA SWPCWorld Data Center for Geomagnetism, Kyoto University
• ●NASA DONKI (CCMC) (opens in new tab) — Solar flares and CME alertsCourtesy of NASA / CCMC
• ●NASA SDO · ESA/NASA SOHO (opens in new tab) — Sun images and coronagraph loops (LASCO)Courtesy of NASA/SDO and ESA/NASA SOHO
• ●ECMWF (opens in new tab) — Cloud cover and weather forecastsCC BY 4.0 · © ECMWF
• ●NOAA GFS (opens in new tab) — Weather forecastsPublic domain
• ●DWD ICON (opens in new tab) — Weather forecastsSource: Deutscher Wetterdienst
• ●Environment and Climate Change Canada (opens in new tab) — Precipitation radar and Canadian warningsData Source: Environment and Climate Change Canada
• ●NOAA MRMS · EUMETNET/OPERA · JMA (opens in new tab) — Precipitation radar (North America, Europe, Japan), via Weather CoreNOAA public domain · CC BY 4.0 · © EUMETNET/OPERA (modified) · Source: JMA website (modified)
• ●EUMETSAT · NOAA/NESDIS · JMA (opens in new tab) — Satellite imagery (GOES GeoColor, Meteosat MTG, Himawari true colour + infrared, global infrared), via Weather CoreCC BY 4.0 · © EUMETSAT · NOAA public domain · Source: JMA website (modified)
• ●NASA Black Marble (opens in new tab) — Light pollution layerCourtesy of NASA
• ●NWS · MET Norway · SMHI · MeteoAlarm — Official weather warnings (optional, off by default)Each warning names its issuer
• ●GeoNames (opens in new tab) — Place searchCC BY 4.0
• ●OpenStreetMap (opens in new tab) — Map data© OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL)
• ●Aurora webcams — Live cameras on the mapEach camera is credited to its owner

Map display: MapLibre and Protomaps (open-source, BSD licence). Map credits are always shown on the map itself.

Questions, ideas or bug reports: contact@nightcompass.net

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