If you are asking what should I shoot tonight, you probably want a decision more than a lesson. Should you set up? What should you point at first? What target is a safer fallback if the sky changes? What tempting object should wait?
Tonight's answer depends on the part of the night you can actually use. A target can be in season, above the horizon, and still be the wrong choice if the Moon, altitude, forecast timing, or framing do not line up.
Pick the target that is high during the cleanest window, least compromised by the Moon, realistic for the forecast, and well framed by the gear already on the mount.
The five-minute target check
Before choosing a target, answer five questions. What is the usable imaging window? Is the Moon hurting faint broadband detail? Which target class fits the conditions: deep sky, Moon, planets, or rest? Does the target climb high enough during the best part of the night? Does it fit the focal length and camera field of view you will use?
If any one of those answers is weak, the target may still be visible, but it may not be the best use of the session. Tonight's strongest target is the one that survives all five checks.
First decide whether tonight is worth setting up
Not every clear spell is worth a full deep-sky session. Set up if the useful window is long enough, the target class matches the conditions, and the forecast does not save the best sky for a time when your target is already too low.
Adapt if the window is short, the Moon is active, or transparency is only fair. That might mean choosing a brighter cluster, a Moon-tolerant nebula, the Moon itself, or planets instead of forcing a fragile broadband target.
Skip if clouds, wind, Moon, or target timing leave no meaningful path to useful data. Saving energy is sometimes the best planning decision.
Choose the target class before the target name
The target name comes after the target class. Tonight may favor deep sky when darkness, transparency, and target altitude line up. It may favor Moon-tolerant nebulae or clusters when the Moon is bright but the rest of the night is usable. It may favor lunar or planetary imaging when seeing is strong. It may favor rest when the setup cost is higher than the return.
This keeps the decision honest. A faint galaxy may be a wonderful project, just not tonight. A bright cluster may be less glamorous, but it can be the target that saves a compromised window.
Build a primary, backup, and avoid list
Do not go outside with only one target in mind. Go outside with roles. The primary target is the object that best fits the cleanest window. The backup is a different strategy if the forecast shifts. The avoid item is the tempting target that looks good in a catalog but is wrong for tonight.
Example from a Bortle 5 site at 400 mm: make a large emission nebula the primary if it frames well and becomes stronger after the Moon impact eases. Keep a bright open cluster or compact nebula as the backup if transparency weakens. Avoid low-surface-brightness galaxies until a darker window.
That short list is more useful than ten possible targets, because it tells you what to do when the sky behaves differently than expected.
Tonight's plan needs roles: primary, backup, and avoid. A list of possible targets is not enough when clouds, Moon, or transparency change the session.
What changes after Moonset or a cloud break?
Tonight's plan may have phases. Early in the night, a bright Moon can make faint broadband targets weak. Later, after Moonset or after the target rises higher, the best choice can change.
That is why the answer should include timing, not only a target name. "Shoot this object tonight" is incomplete. "Shoot this object after 00:45, keep this backup before then, and avoid this faint galaxy until a darker night" is a plan.
If the forecast has a late clearing trend, do not waste your best target during the weak part of the night. If the Moon is the early problem, use the early hours for setup, calibration, or a brighter fallback, then move to the primary target when the sky supports it.
How MySkyDome helps with tonight's decision
MySkyDome is built for the night-of question: what should I shoot tonight? The nightly report starts with the practical answer, then gives the context behind it.
It considers your observing site, darkness window, Moon conditions, sky quality, forecast conditions, target visibility, focal length, and camera field of view. The result is a plan tied to your actual night, not a generic list.
For the wider workflow behind target selection, read the target planner for your sky and gear.
Tonight checklist
Before you commit, ask: do I have enough usable darkness to justify setup? What target class does the night favor? What is the primary target? What is the backup if transparency or cloud timing changes? What should I avoid because of Moon, altitude, or framing? When does the target become worth the exposure time?
MySkyDome builds nightly reports around your location, darkness window, Moon conditions, focal length, camera field of view, and target timing.
What to remember before setup
A useful tonight plan is short. It tells you whether to set up, what target class to favor, which object is primary, which backup is ready, and what should wait.
That is how a promising forecast becomes a practical session instead of a last-minute guess.
Get tonight's target plan for your site
MySkyDome helps you turn forecast, Moon, target timing, and gear fit into a practical nightly imaging plan. Use it when you want a primary target, a backup, and a clearer reason to set up tonight.