Stargaze Atlas

Indiana dark-sky map — light pollution by town

82 towns rated · darkest: Cedar Lake · measured from VIIRS 2024 satellite night-lights

Indiana has 82 towns rated for light pollution here, from its darkest — Cedar Lake (Bortle 5) — to its brightest city cores, with 0 rating as genuinely dark or rural sky (Bortle 4 or better). Every town is listed with the nearest measurably darker town to drive to. It also holds 2 certified International Dark Sky Places, listed below with the nearest rated town to each. Ratings are a VIIRS satellite proxy, not survey-grade sky-brightness readings.

Statewide Indiana · VIIRS 2024
Towns rated
82

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

Darkest town
Cedar Lake
Genuinely dark towns
0
Certified dark-sky places
2

Certified dark-sky places in Indiana

2 sites in Indiana hold an International Dark Sky Place certification — awarded for actively protecting the night sky, not measured from orbit like the town ratings below. What each designation means →

Certified International Dark Sky Places in Indiana.
Place Designation Coordinates Nearest rated town Distance That town's sky
Beverly Shores Dark Sky Community 41.684°N, 86.986°W Michigan City 5 mi B7
Potawatomi Wildlife Park Dark-sky preserve 41.231°N, 86.105°W Warsaw 13 mi B7

All Indiana towns by darkness

Darkest sky first, each with the nearest measurably darker town to drive to. Sort or filter below.

Indiana towns, darkest sky first.
Sky Nearest darker sky
Cedar Lake 5 Suburban sky 7.6 Caledonia, WI — B4, 105 mi
North Madison 6 Bright suburban sky 11 Clayton, OH — B5, 94 mi
Schererville 6 Bright suburban sky 11 Cedar Lake — B5, 8 mi
Lake Station 6 Bright suburban sky 15 Cedar Lake — B5, 18 mi
Yorktown 6 Bright suburban sky 16 Clayton, OH — B5, 64 mi
Zionsville 6 Bright suburban sky 16 Clayton, OH — B5, 100 mi
La Porte 6 Bright suburban sky 16 Cedar Lake — B5, 41 mi
Connersville 6 Bright suburban sky 17 Clayton, OH — B5, 44 mi
Chesterton 6 Bright suburban sky 17 Cedar Lake — B5, 26 mi
Hobart 6 Bright suburban sky 17 Cedar Lake — B5, 15 mi
Greencastle 6 Bright suburban sky 19 Cedar Lake — B5, 125 mi
Crown Point 6 Bright suburban sky 20 Cedar Lake — B5, 5 mi
Portage 7 Suburban / urban transition 21 Lake Station — B6, 3 mi
Highland 7 Suburban / urban transition 22 Schererville — B6, 5 mi
Crawfordsville 7 Suburban / urban transition 22 Greencastle — B6, 27 mi
Fairfield Heights 7 Suburban / urban transition 22 Zionsville — B6, 11 mi
Shelbyville 7 Suburban / urban transition 23 Connersville — B6, 35 mi
New Castle 7 Suburban / urban transition 23 Yorktown — B6, 18 mi
Beech Grove 7 Suburban / urban transition 24 Zionsville — B6, 18 mi
Martinsville 7 Suburban / urban transition 25 Greencastle — B6, 28 mi
Westfield 7 Suburban / urban transition 25 Zionsville — B6, 10 mi
Bluffton 7 Suburban / urban transition 26 Yorktown — B6, 43 mi
Plainfield 7 Suburban / urban transition 26 Zionsville — B6, 19 mi
Logansport 7 Suburban / urban transition 26 Zionsville — B6, 56 mi
Plymouth 7 Suburban / urban transition 26 La Porte — B6, 28 mi
Carmel 7 Suburban / urban transition 26 Zionsville — B6, 8 mi
Goshen 7 Suburban / urban transition 26 Niles, MI — B6, 28 mi
Madison 7 Suburban / urban transition 26 North Madison — B6, 2 mi
Griffith 7 Suburban / urban transition 27 Schererville — B6, 4 mi
Gary 7 Suburban / urban transition 27 Lake Station — B6, 6 mi
Greenfield 7 Suburban / urban transition 27 Zionsville — B6, 29 mi
Saint John 7 Suburban / urban transition 28 Schererville — B6, 2 mi
Warsaw 7 Suburban / urban transition 28 Niles, MI — B6, 46 mi
Bedford 7 Suburban / urban transition 29 Greencastle — B6, 58 mi
Broad Ripple 7 Suburban / urban transition 29 Zionsville — B6, 9 mi
Greensburg 7 Suburban / urban transition 29 Connersville — B6, 28 mi
Brownsburg 7 Suburban / urban transition 30 Zionsville — B6, 10 mi
Michigan City 7 Suburban / urban transition 30 Chesterton — B6, 11 mi
New Haven 7 Suburban / urban transition 30 Defiance, OH — B6, 37 mi
Dyer 7 Suburban / urban transition 31 Sauk Village, IL — B6, 2 mi
Auburn 7 Suburban / urban transition 32 Defiance, OH — B6, 37 mi
Granger 7 Suburban / urban transition 32 Niles, MI — B6, 9 mi
Avon 7 Suburban / urban transition 32 Zionsville — B6, 15 mi
Lafayette 7 Suburban / urban transition 32 Zionsville — B6, 46 mi
Noblesville 7 Suburban / urban transition 32 Zionsville — B6, 15 mi
Valparaiso 7 Suburban / urban transition 33 Chesterton — B6, 10 mi
Wabash 7 Suburban / urban transition 33 Yorktown — B6, 46 mi
Huntington 7 Suburban / urban transition 34 Yorktown — B6, 49 mi
Vincennes 7 Suburban / urban transition 34 Greencastle — B6, 76 mi
Frankfort 7 Suburban / urban transition 35 Zionsville — B6, 26 mi
Lebanon 7 Suburban / urban transition 36 Zionsville — B6, 13 mi
Merrillville 7 Suburban / urban transition 36 Crown Point — B6, 5 mi
Franklin 7 Suburban / urban transition 37 Zionsville — B6, 34 mi
Seymour 7 Suburban / urban transition 37 North Madison — B6, 30 mi
Clarksville 7 Suburban / urban transition 37 Shepherdsville, KY — B6, 21 mi
Washington 7 Suburban / urban transition 38 Greencastle — B6, 70 mi
Mishawaka 7 Suburban / urban transition 39 Niles, MI — B6, 13 mi
Hammond 7 Suburban / urban transition 39 Sauk Village, IL — B6, 7 mi
Columbus 8 City sky 42 Seymour — B7, 17 mi
Jasper 8 City sky 44 Washington — B7, 23 mi
Marion 8 City sky 45 Wabash — B7, 19 mi
Kokomo 8 City sky 45 Logansport — B7, 22 mi
Fort Wayne 8 City sky 46 New Haven — B7, 7 mi
Peru 8 City sky 47 Wabash — B7, 13 mi
Munster 8 City sky 49 Lansing, IL — B7, 1 mi
Bloomington 8 City sky 50 Martinsville — B7, 19 mi
Elkhart 8 City sky 53 Granger — B7, 9 mi
Jeffersonville 8 City sky 54 Clarksville — B7, 2 mi
Greenwood 8 City sky 54 Beech Grove — B7, 8 mi
Muncie 8 City sky 54 Yorktown — B6, 6 mi
Anderson 8 City sky 55 Yorktown — B6, 11 mi
New Albany 8 City sky 55 Clarksville — B7, 4 mi
Richmond 8 City sky 61 Connersville — B6, 19 mi
Evansville 8 City sky 62 Henderson, KY — B7, 10 mi
East Chicago 8 City sky 63 Calumet City, IL — B7, 4 mi
Lawrence 8 City sky 64 Broad Ripple — B7, 7 mi
Terre Haute 8 City sky 72 Greencastle — B6, 32 mi
Fishers 8 City sky 72 Carmel — B7, 6 mi
West Lafayette 8 City sky 73 Lafayette — B7, 2 mi
Speedway 8 City sky 75 Fairfield Heights — B7, 6 mi
South Bend 9 Inner-city sky 108 Mishawaka — B7, 5 mi
Indianapolis 9 Inner-city sky 210 Beech Grove — B7, 5 mi

Frequently asked questions

Where are the darkest skies in Indiana?
The darkest town tracked here is Cedar Lake, but the genuinely dark skies in Indiana are its 2 certified International Dark Sky Places — Beverly Shores, Potawatomi Wildlife Park — listed further down with the nearest rated town to each.
How many dark-sky towns does Indiana have?
Of 82 towns rated here, 0 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.

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