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Best time to see the Milky Way in the National Park of American Samoa
July, August and September are the best months to see the Milky Way core at the National Park of American Samoa. The best week of 2027 is August 25 to 31, when the core is above 10 degrees in full darkness with the moon below the horizon for about 6.0 hours a night.
Jul, Aug and Sep
Best months for the core
75°
Highest point of the core, due south
66%
Average cloud amount over the year
45
Top core score out of 100, in August
The core clears 10 degrees during full darkness on most nights from January to November. In December it is out of reach, either too close to the Sun or too low in the dark.
Core score by month
| Month | Core score | Best week | Moon-free core hours a night | Average cloud |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 1 | January 13 to 19 | 0.2 | 77% |
| February | 13 | February 10 to 16 | 2.3 | 78% |
| March | 30 | March 9 to 15 | 4.3 | 70% |
| April | 35 | April 5 to 11 | 6.0 | 65% |
| May | 38 | May 3 to 9 | 7.8 | 62% |
| June | 40 | June 1 to 7 | 9.4 | 60% |
| July | 42 | July 1 to 7 | 8.9 | 58% |
| August | 45 | August 25 to 31 | 6.0 | 55% |
| September | 45 | September 21 to 27 | 4.2 | 55% |
| October | 21 | October 18 to 24 | 2.2 | 61% |
| November | 2 | November 14 to 20 | 0.3 | 70% |
| December | 0 | Core not visible | 0 | 75% |
Times are for the best seven nights in each month. Moon-free means the moon is below the horizon. The core counts as visible above 10 degrees in full darkness, when the Sun is more than 18 degrees below the horizon.
The best nights in 2027
- July: July 1 is the best night. The core is above 10 degrees and the moon is down from 7:19 pm to 5:09 am, with the moon 4% lit that night.
- August: August 25 is the best night. The core is above 10 degrees and the moon is down from 7:29 pm to 1:29 am, with the moon 35% lit that night.
- September: September 21 is the best night. The core is above 10 degrees and the moon is down from 7:29 pm to 11:39 pm, with the moon 61% lit that night.
Clock times are Samoa time, which does not observe daylight saving. The best nights fall around the new moon, so the dates shift by about 11 days each year.
About the park
National Park of American Samoa is a national park in American Samoa. The National Park Service places its center at 14.23 degrees south and 169.85 degrees west, and the sky calculations on this page use that point. Visitor information, fees and alerts are on the park's own page. National Park Service.
How the National Park of American Samoa compares
Its best monthly core score of 45 ranks 40 of 54 national park units that can see the core. The highest is Lassen Volcanic National Park at 86, and the lowest is Voyageurs National Park at 13. Cloud at National Park of American Samoa runs from 55% in August to 78% in February.
The score ranks months and parks. It is not a forecast for any night, and it leaves out local weather, smoke and light from nearby towns. How the core score works.
Nearest parks
Sources and method
- Sun, Moon and galactic centre positions calculated for the park's latitude and longitude from the low-precision formulas in Paul Schlyter's "Computing planetary positions", with the standard sidereal-time and horizon formulas. The code is checked against known events: new and full moons within 5 minutes, and the September equinox within 1 minute.
- Cloud: monthly mean cloud amount, 25-year Meteorological and Solar Monthly & Annual Climatologies (January 2001 - December 2025), from NASA POWER (version v2.10.1, source SYN1DEG), accessed October 19, 2026. Data obtained from NASA Langley Research Center POWER Project.
- Park facts: National Park Service.