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
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.
- 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.