An independent dark-sky data project
Can you stargaze tonight?
Get any of 4,338 U.S. towns' light-pollution rating — measured from satellite night-lights — plus tonight's Moon, cloud cover, and aurora odds, and the darker skies within driving distance.
- 4,338 towns rated
- 51 states
- live Moon · clouds · aurora
- free · no signup
- Find your town — its Bortle rating, measured from satellite night-lights.
- Check tonight — live Moon, cloud cover, and aurora odds, with a plain verdict.
- Chase the dark — the nearest genuinely darker skies to drive to.
Your location stays in your browser. Or search your town below.
From city glow to truly dark
A spread of towns, brightest to darkest, to show the range of what's rated here.
- New York City New York Bortle 9 · Inner-city sky 144 nW/cm²/sr1–2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
- Brooklyn New York Bortle 8 · City sky 60 nW/cm²/sr1–2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
- Lincoln Nebraska Bortle 6 · Bright suburban sky 20 nW/cm²/sr1–2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
- Bella Vista Arkansas Bortle 5 · Suburban sky 3.0 nW/cm²/sr1–2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
- Glenville New York Bortle 4 · Rural / suburban transition 0.8 nW/cm²/sr1–2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
- Glenville New York Bortle 4 · Rural / suburban transition 0.8 nW/cm²/sr1–2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Certified dark-sky destinations
92 places carry an official International Dark Sky Place certification from DarkSky International — genuinely dark destinations, not satellite estimates.
- Antelope Island State Park Utah · Dark Sky Park 12 mi from Syracuse
- Anza-Borrego Desert State Park California · Dark Sky Park 28 mi from San Diego Country Estates
- Arches National Park Colorado · Dark Sky Park 53 mi from Fruita
- Beverly Shores Indiana · Dark Sky Community 5 mi from Michigan City
- Big Bend National Park Texas · Dark Sky Park 140 mi from Del Rio
- Big Bend Ranch State Park Texas · Dark Sky Park 190 mi from West Odessa
- Big Cypress National Preserve Florida · Dark Sky Park 37 mi from Immokalee
- Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park Colorado · Dark Sky Park 11 mi from Montrose
Browse by metro light dome
A light dome is a metro-scale phenomenon, not a town-scale one. The 46 largest domes each get their own page listing every town inside them, darkest first; smaller domes and rural towns are covered by their state's full table below.
- New York City, NY 230 towns
- Los Angeles, CA 127 towns
- Chicago, IL 141 towns
- Dallas, TX 60 towns
- Washington, DC 177 towns
- Boston, MA 128 towns
- Miami, FL 88 towns
- Phoenix, AZ 23 towns
- Houston, TX 35 towns
- Riverside, CA 54 towns
- San Jose, CA 46 towns
- Seattle, WA 74 towns
- Philadelphia, PA 70 towns
- Detroit, MI 60 towns
- Minneapolis, MN 72 towns
- San Diego, CA 27 towns
- San Francisco, CA 38 towns
- Denver, CO 38 towns
- Bridgeport, CT 92 towns
- Tampa, FL 60 towns
- Atlanta, GA 59 towns
- Cleveland, OH 70 towns
- Sacramento, CA 33 towns
- Salt Lake City, UT 48 towns
- Las Vegas, NV 11 towns
- Portland, OR 38 towns
- Kansas City, MO 22 towns
- Orlando, FL 47 towns
- Indianapolis, IN 21 towns
- Charlotte, NC 22 towns
- Austin, TX 15 towns
- St. Louis, MO 54 towns
- Milwaukee, WI 34 towns
- Columbus, OH 22 towns
- Springfield, MA 41 towns
- Baltimore, MD 31 towns
- Honolulu, HI 34 towns
- Providence, RI 28 towns
- Cincinnati, OH 35 towns
- New Orleans, LA 21 towns
- West Palm Beach, FL 20 towns
- Pittsburgh, PA 31 towns
- Worcester, MA 25 towns
- Birmingham, AL 24 towns
- Dayton, OH 21 towns
- Aurora, IL 20 towns
Browse by state
All 51 states, 22 of them with genuinely dark towns (Bortle 4 or better). Pick a state for its full darkness-ranked table — every town rated in that state, with its own exact numbers.
- Alabama 67 towns
- Alaska 7 towns
- Arizona 68 towns
- Arkansas 39 towns
- California 485 towns
- Colorado 61 towns
- Connecticut 79 towns
- Delaware 11 towns
- District of Columbia 30 towns
- Florida 339 towns
- Georgia 105 towns
- Hawaii 42 towns
- Idaho 24 towns
- Illinois 226 towns
- Indiana 82 towns
- Iowa 40 towns
- Kansas 36 towns
- Kentucky 49 towns
- Louisiana 62 towns
- Maine 16 towns
- Maryland 136 towns
- Massachusetts 171 towns
- Michigan 111 towns
- Minnesota 100 towns
- Mississippi 43 towns
- Missouri 83 towns
- Montana 7 towns
- Nebraska 17 towns
- Nevada 22 towns
- New Hampshire 21 towns
- New Jersey 208 towns
- New Mexico 25 towns
- New York 219 towns
- North Carolina 89 towns
- North Dakota 9 towns
- Ohio 195 towns
- Oklahoma 43 towns
- Oregon 58 towns
- Pennsylvania 104 towns
- Rhode Island 29 towns
- South Carolina 52 towns
- South Dakota 11 towns
- Tennessee 64 towns
- Texas 244 towns
- Utah 63 towns
- Vermont 5 towns
- Virginia 107 towns
- Washington 121 towns
- West Virginia 16 towns
- Wisconsin 87 towns
- Wyoming 10 towns
What this site is
Stargaze Atlas is a free, no-signup answer to "can I stargaze tonight, and where?" It rates 4,338 U.S. towns for light pollution using VIIRS 2024 satellite night-lights — each town gets a darkness class and an estimated Bortle band measured at its own center, plus the darker towns within driving distance. A live "tonight" panel reads your Moon phase, cloud cover, and aurora odds from public NOAA and Open-Meteo data, entirely in your browser. Every rating traces to a named, public-domain source; the Bortle band is a satellite radiance proxy for planning, not a survey-grade sky-brightness reading.
Stargaze Atlas is an independent data project. Every darkness rating comes from VIIRS 2024 satellite night-lights — public domain — and the method behind each number is documented. The rating is an honest satellite radiance proxy, not a survey-grade sky-brightness reading; the "darker skies within reach" list turns it into a plan.