Stargaze Atlas

Cohoes, NY — light pollution & stargazing

New York · Poor — bright suburban · population 16,538

Cohoes, New York has a light-pollution rating of about Bortle 7 — a suburban / urban transition (poor — bright suburban) — measured from VIIRS 2024 satellite night-lights at 25 nW/cm²/sr at the town center. The whole sky glows grayish-white. Only the brighter stars, the Moon, the planets, and a handful of the showiest clusters cut through; deep-sky observing is difficult. The nearest genuinely darker skies are around Rotterdam, NY (about 14 mi away, Bortle 6). Tonight's Moon phase, cloud cover, and aurora odds load live below, computed in your browser. This is a satellite upward-radiance proxy for planning, not a survey-grade sky-brightness measurement.

Stargazing in Cohoes tonight

Light-pollution reading Cohoes, NY · VIIRS 2024
Estimated Bortle class
7 of 9

Suburban / urban transition. A satellite upward-radiance proxy for planning — not a survey-grade sky-brightness reading.

VIIRS radiance (town center)
25 nW/cm²/sr
Naked-eye limiting mag.
4.6–5.0
Milky Way
not visible

What you can see from Cohoes

The whole sky glows grayish-white. Only the brighter stars, the Moon, the planets, and a handful of the showiest clusters cut through; deep-sky observing is difficult.

Darker skies within reach

The nearest town in each darker class — your ladder from Cohoes's sky toward truly dark skies.

Nearer, darker towns from Cohoes — nearest first.
Town State Bortle Sky Drive
Rotterdam NY 6 Bright suburban sky 14 mi
Glenville NY 4 Rural / suburban transition 21 mi
Wilton NY 5 Suburban sky 28 mi

Frequently asked questions

Can you see the Milky Way from Cohoes, NY?
Not really. At about Bortle 7 the Milky Way is not visible from Cohoes — the sky is too light-polluted. The nearest genuinely dark skies are around Rotterdam, NY, about 14 mi away.
How dark is the sky in Cohoes?
Cohoes rates a suburban / urban transition — about Bortle 7, with a naked-eye limiting magnitude around 4.6–5.0. That comes from a VIIRS satellite night-lights reading of 25 nW/cm²/sr at the town center. It is a satellite proxy for planning, not a survey-grade measurement.
Where is the nearest dark sky to Cohoes?
The nearest town with genuinely darker skies is Rotterdam, NY — about 14 mi away at roughly Bortle 6. See the "darker skies within reach" list on this page for more options.
Can I see the aurora from Cohoes tonight?
It depends on tonight's space weather. The live panel on this page reads the current NOAA aurora forecast for your latitude, along with cloud cover and the Moon — most U.S. locations only see aurora during strong geomagnetic storms.
How to read this rating

The darkness rating is measured from VIIRS satellite night-lights at the town center and is a proxy for planning, not a survey-grade sky-brightness measurement — and the darkest skies are usually a short drive out of any town. Tonight's Moon, cloud, and aurora figures are live third-party forecasts that can change. See the methodology for sources and limits.

More in New York

See every town's darkness rating in New York, learn to read the Bortle scale, or check tonight's Moon phase.