Stargaze Atlas

Connecticut dark-sky map — light pollution by town

79 towns rated · darkest: Mansfield City · measured from VIIRS 2024 satellite night-lights

Connecticut has 79 towns rated for light pollution here, from its darkest — Mansfield City (Bortle 4) — to its brightest city cores. 6 rate as genuinely dark or rural sky (Bortle 4 or better). Sort the table by darkness to find the best stargazing near you, then open any town for its exact rating, what you can see, the nearest darker skies to drive to, and tonight's live Moon, cloud, and aurora conditions. Ratings are a VIIRS satellite proxy for planning, not survey-grade sky-brightness readings.

Statewide Connecticut · VIIRS 2024
Towns rated
79

4 rate as genuinely dark or rural sky (about Bortle 4 or better).

Darkest town
Mansfield City
Genuinely dark towns
4

All Connecticut towns by darkness

Darkest sky first. Click a column heading to sort, or filter by name. A satellite reading, not a survey-grade measurement — and the real dark skies are usually a short drive out of any town.

Connecticut towns, darkest sky first.
Sky
Mansfield City 4 Rural / suburban transition 0.8
Montville Center 4 Rural / suburban transition 0.8
Windham 4 Rural / suburban transition 1.7
Stafford 4 Rural / suburban transition 2.2
Oxford 5 Suburban sky 3.1
Plymouth 5 Suburban sky 3.6
Ledyard 5 Suburban sky 3.7
South Windsor 5 Suburban sky 4.0
Tolland 5 Suburban sky 4.6
Ellington 5 Suburban sky 4.8
Farmington 5 Suburban sky 4.9
Orange 5 Suburban sky 4.9
West Torrington 5 Suburban sky 5.0
Wilton 5 Suburban sky 5.3
Waterford 5 Suburban sky 6.8
New Fairfield 5 Suburban sky 6.9
Madison 5 Suburban sky 7.7
Cromwell 5 Suburban sky 7.9
Killingly Center 5 Suburban sky 7.9
North Branford 6 Bright suburban sky 8.0
Enfield 6 Bright suburban sky 9.0
Guilford 6 Bright suburban sky 9.8
Wolcott 6 Bright suburban sky 10
Avon 6 Bright suburban sky 10
Trumbull 6 Bright suburban sky 11
Cheshire 6 Bright suburban sky 11
Seymour 6 Bright suburban sky 11
Old Saybrook 6 Bright suburban sky 11
Southington 6 Bright suburban sky 11
Hamden 6 Bright suburban sky 11
Plainfield 6 Bright suburban sky 12
Naugatuck 6 Bright suburban sky 12
Windsor 6 Bright suburban sky 13
Windsor Locks 6 Bright suburban sky 13
New Canaan 6 Bright suburban sky 13
Wethersfield 6 Bright suburban sky 14
Glastonbury 6 Bright suburban sky 14
Bloomfield 6 Bright suburban sky 15
Bristol 6 Bright suburban sky 15
Southbury 6 Bright suburban sky 15
Branford 6 Bright suburban sky 16
Westport 6 Bright suburban sky 16
Willimantic 6 Bright suburban sky 17
Darien 6 Bright suburban sky 17
Newington 6 Bright suburban sky 17
Wallingford Center 6 Bright suburban sky 18
Norwich 6 Bright suburban sky 18
North Haven 6 Bright suburban sky 18
Fairfield 6 Bright suburban sky 18
Stratford 6 Bright suburban sky 20
Shelton 7 Suburban / urban transition 20
Plainville 7 Suburban / urban transition 22
East Norwalk 7 Suburban / urban transition 22
Torrington 7 Suburban / urban transition 22
Meriden 7 Suburban / urban transition 22
West Haven 7 Suburban / urban transition 22
East Haven 7 Suburban / urban transition 23
Wallingford 7 Suburban / urban transition 25
Milford 7 Suburban / urban transition 26
East Hartford 7 Suburban / urban transition 26
Derby 7 Suburban / urban transition 26
City of Milford 7 Suburban / urban transition 27
Ansonia 7 Suburban / urban transition 29
Manchester 7 Suburban / urban transition 30
Greenwich 7 Suburban / urban transition 33
New Britain 7 Suburban / urban transition 34
Norwalk 7 Suburban / urban transition 35
West Hartford 7 Suburban / urban transition 37
Danbury 7 Suburban / urban transition 37
Middletown 8 City sky 43
Storrs 8 City sky 45
Waterbury 8 City sky 49
New London 8 City sky 62
Hartford 8 City sky 83
Bridgeport 8 City sky 86
New Haven 9 Inner-city sky 103
Stamford 9 Inner-city sky 108
Winchester Center 3 Rural sky 0.3
North Stamford 4 Rural / suburban transition 2.2

Frequently asked questions

Where are the darkest skies in Connecticut?
The darkest town tracked here is Mansfield City. Sort the table on this page by darkness to see the full ranking, from the most rural, star-filled skies down to the brightest city cores.
How many dark-sky towns does Connecticut have?
Of 79 towns rated here, 6 rate as genuinely dark or rural sky (about Bortle 4 or better) — good for seeing the Milky Way on a clear, moonless night.
How are these light-pollution ratings measured?
From VIIRS 2024 annual-average satellite night-lights, sampled at each town's center and mapped to a darkness class and an estimated Bortle band. It is a satellite upward-radiance proxy for planning, not a survey-grade sky-brightness reading. See the methodology page for details.

Explore

Learn to read the Bortle scale, check the meteor shower calendar, or search all towns from the home page.