DARK SKY PARKS & SITES | Light Pollution Maps

The darkest skies have the least light pollution from nighttime lighting and other sources. Light pollution is a worsening problem over time as more people means more development and the continued spread of lighting. The Bortle scale is one measure of determining sky brightness (light pollution) at night. A number of places are protected for their dark skies - these generally are at national and state parks and forests around the world. The DarkSky International vets dark sky locations and are a good place to start in your search for truly dark skies. Bear in mind that there are LOTS of other locations that are "dark enough" as well, they just haven't been approved by DarkSky (yet), which is a 2-3 year long process.

Sanctuaries & reserves listed on this page are DarkSky-certified sites that have the darkest skies for stargazing, with parks being next. Being DarkSky-certified does not imply a specific Bortle value. One sanctuary can be Bortle 1, while another may be Bortle 3.

Besides using DarkSky International as a resource, here are a couple other tools for determining how dark a location is for astronomy and astrophotography:

U.S. nighttime lights satellite map

U.S. light pollution map

2015 map showing US light pollution based on Bortle scale/SQM data. See full interactive map at LightPollutionMap.info.

U.S. dark sky site list

Comprehensive list of dark-sky sites (including DarkSky-sanctioned locations) in the U.S. by state, with Bortle numbers where known:

Alabama dark sky sites

Alaska dark sky sites

Arizona dark sky sites

Arkansas dark sky sites

California dark sky sites

Colorado dark sky sites

Connecticut dark sky sites

DC dark sky sites

Delaware dark sky sites

Florida dark sky sites

Georgia dark sky sites

Hawaii dark sky sites

Idaho dark sky sites

Illinois dark sky sites

Indiana dark sky sites

Iowa dark sky sites

Kansas dark sky sites

Kentucky dark sky sites

Louisiana dark sky sites

Maine dark sky sites

Maryland dark sky sites

Massachusetts dark sky sites

Michigan dark sky sites

Minnesota dark sky sites

Mississippi dark sky sites

Missouri dark sky sites

Montana dark sky sites

Nebraska dark sky sites

Nevada dark sky sites

New Hampshire dark sky sites

New Jersey dark sky sites

New Mexico dark sky sites

New York dark sky sites

North Carolina dark sky sites

North Dakota dark sky sites

Ohio dark sky sites

Oklahoma dark sky sites

Oregon dark sky sites

Pennsylvania dark sky sites

Rhode Island dark sky sites

South Carolina dark sky sites

South Dakota dark sky sites

Tennessee dark sky sites

Texas dark sky sites

Utah dark sky sites

Vermont dark sky sites

Virginia dark sky sites

Washington dark sky sites

West Virginia dark sky sites

Wisconsin dark sky sites

Wyoming dark sky sites

Worldwide dark skies

Worldwide nighttime lights satellite map

2019 satellite image showing worldwide light pollution. See full interactive map at Blue Marble Navigator.

Worldwide light pollution map

2015 map showing worldwide light pollution based on SQM/Bortle data. See full interactive map at LightPollutionMap.info.

Worldwide dark sky sanctuaries & reserves

DarkSky-designated sanctuaries and reserves that have the darkest skies.

NAME	LOCATION
Arkaroola	Arkaroola AU	River Murray	Swan Reach Australia	The Jump-up	QLD Australia	Mont-Megantic	Notre-Dame-des-Bois Canada	Gabriela Mistral	Elqui Valley Chile	Cranborne-Chase	Wiltshire England	Exmoor	North Devon England	Moore's Reserve	South Downs England	North York Moors	Pickering England	Yorkshire Dales	Bainbridge England	Alpes Azur Mercantour	Beuil France	Cevennes	Cassagnas France	Pic du Midi	Hautes-Pyrenees France	Millevaches in Limousin	Millevaches France	Vercors	Grenoble France	Rhon Biosphere	Hilders Germany	Westhavelland	Milower Land Germany	Kerry Reserve	Kerry Ireland	NamibRand	Namib Desert Namibia	Aoraki Mackenzie	South Island New Zealand	Aotea	Great Barrier Island New Zealand	Rakiura	Stewart Island New Zealand	Niue	Niue	Wairarapa	North Island NZ	Pitcairn Islands	Pitcairn Islands	!Ae!Hai Kalahari	Twee Rivieren South Africa	Brecon Beacons	Brecon Wales	Snowdonia	Betws-y-Coed Wales	Ynys EnlliBardsey	Aberdaron Wales

Worldwide dark sky parks

IDA-designated parks that have the darkest skies.

NAME	LOCATION
Warrumbungle	NSW Australia	Naturpark Attersee-Traunsee	Austria	Desengano	Rio de Janeiro Brazil	Mont-Tremblant	Quebec Canada	Quetico	Atikokan Canada	Petrova gora-Biljeg	Croatia	Vrani Kamen	Daruvar Croatia	Bulbjerg	Bulbjerg Denmark	Mando	Mando Island Denmark	Mon and Nyord	Denmark	Bodmin Moor	Cornwall England	Northumberland	Northumberland England	Eifel	N. Rhine-Westphalia Germany	Winklmoosalm	Bavaria Germany	Aenos	Cephalonia Greece	Bukk	Miskolc Hungary	Hortobagy	Hungary	Zselic	Hungary	Ballycroy	County Mayo Ireland	Mayo Park	County Mayo Ireland	Ramon Crater	Negev Israel	Iriomote-Ishigaki	Okinawa Prefecture Japan	Kozushima Island	Kozushima Village Japan	Davagh Forest	County Tyrone N. Ireland	OM Park	County Tyrone N. Ireleand	De Boschplaat	Terschelling Netherlands	Lauwersmeer	Netherlands	Oxford Forest	Canterbury New Zealand	Wai-Iti	New Zealand	Cairngorms	Scotland	Galloway Forest	Scotland	Tomintoul & Glenlivet	Moray Scotland	Yeongyang Firefly	South Korea	Albanya	Girona Spain	Gantrisch	Bern Switzerland	Hehuan Mountain	Nantou County Taiwan	Elan Valley Estate	Powys Wales

DARK SKY PARKS & SITES | Light Pollution Maps | 2024 List (2024)