Stargaze Atlas

Tennessee dark-sky map — light pollution by town

64 towns rated · darkest: Seymour · measured from VIIRS 2024 satellite night-lights

Tennessee has 64 towns rated for light pollution here, from its darkest — Seymour (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 1 certified International Dark Sky Place, listed below with the nearest rated town to each. Ratings are a VIIRS satellite proxy, not survey-grade sky-brightness readings.

Statewide Tennessee · VIIRS 2024
Towns rated
64

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

Darkest town
Seymour
Genuinely dark towns
0
Certified dark-sky places
1

Certified dark-sky places in Tennessee

One site in Tennessee holds 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 Tennessee.
Place Designation Coordinates Nearest rated town Distance That town's sky
Obed Wild and Scenic River Dark Sky Park 36.085°N, 84.722°W Crossville 19 mi B7

All Tennessee towns by darkness

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

Tennessee towns, darkest sky first.
Sky Nearest darker sky
Seymour 5 Suburban sky 3.4 Red Hill, SC — B4, 285 mi
Middle Valley 5 Suburban sky 7.9 Hilton Head, SC — B4, 330 mi
East Brainerd 6 Bright suburban sky 9.0 Middle Valley — B5, 14 mi
Soddy-Daisy 6 Bright suburban sky 10 Middle Valley — B5, 3 mi
Lakeland 6 Bright suburban sky 12 Pleasant Grove, AL — B5, 200 mi
Red Bank 6 Bright suburban sky 14 Middle Valley — B5, 9 mi
Ellendale 6 Bright suburban sky 16 Pleasant Grove, AL — B5, 200 mi
Arlington 6 Bright suburban sky 16 Pleasant Grove, AL — B5, 200 mi
Paris 6 Bright suburban sky 18 Middle Valley — B5, 190 mi
East Ridge 6 Bright suburban sky 19 Middle Valley — B5, 13 mi
Spring Hill 6 Bright suburban sky 19 Middle Valley — B5, 105 mi
Manchester 6 Bright suburban sky 19 Middle Valley — B5, 55 mi
East Chattanooga 7 Suburban / urban transition 20 East Ridge — B6, 4 mi
McMinnville 7 Suburban / urban transition 23 Manchester — B6, 23 mi
La Vergne 7 Suburban / urban transition 25 Spring Hill — B6, 27 mi
Millington 7 Suburban / urban transition 25 Ellendale — B6, 9 mi
Cordova 7 Suburban / urban transition 25 Lakeland — B6, 6 mi
Lawrenceburg 7 Suburban / urban transition 26 Spring Hill — B6, 42 mi
Greeneville 7 Suburban / urban transition 26 Seymour — B5, 53 mi
Collierville 7 Suburban / urban transition 27 Lakeland — B6, 14 mi
Lewisburg 7 Suburban / urban transition 28 Spring Hill — B6, 22 mi
Athens 7 Suburban / urban transition 28 Soddy-Daisy — B6, 37 mi
White House 7 Suburban / urban transition 28 Spring Hill — B6, 52 mi
Germantown 7 Suburban / urban transition 28 Ellendale — B6, 10 mi
Oak Ridge 7 Suburban / urban transition 29 Seymour — B5, 32 mi
Crossville 7 Suburban / urban transition 29 Soddy-Daisy — B6, 50 mi
Bartlett 7 Suburban / urban transition 30 Ellendale — B6, 3 mi
Mount Juliet 7 Suburban / urban transition 30 Spring Hill — B6, 39 mi
Farragut 7 Suburban / urban transition 31 Seymour — B5, 24 mi
Martin 7 Suburban / urban transition 31 Paris — B6, 29 mi
Portland 7 Suburban / urban transition 32 Spring Hill — B6, 62 mi
Cleveland 7 Suburban / urban transition 32 Middle Valley — B5, 18 mi
Collegedale 7 Suburban / urban transition 32 East Brainerd — B6, 7 mi
Franklin 7 Suburban / urban transition 32 Spring Hill — B6, 13 mi
Shelbyville 7 Suburban / urban transition 33 Manchester — B6, 21 mi
Dickson 7 Suburban / urban transition 34 Spring Hill — B6, 34 mi
Goodlettsville 7 Suburban / urban transition 34 Spring Hill — B6, 41 mi
Tullahoma 7 Suburban / urban transition 35 Manchester — B6, 11 mi
Clinton 7 Suburban / urban transition 35 Seymour — B5, 27 mi
Hendersonville 7 Suburban / urban transition 36 Spring Hill — B6, 42 mi
Johnson City 7 Suburban / urban transition 38 Seymour — B5, 82 mi
Elizabethton 7 Suburban / urban transition 39 Seymour — B5, 90 mi
Union City 7 Suburban / urban transition 39 Paris — B6, 42 mi
Gallatin 7 Suburban / urban transition 40 Spring Hill — B6, 52 mi
Columbia 8 City sky 40 Spring Hill — B6, 11 mi
Smyrna 8 City sky 42 La Vergne — B7, 4 mi
Clarksville 8 City sky 43 Fort Campbell North, KY — B7, 10 mi
Dyersburg 8 City sky 43 Blytheville, AR — B7, 31 mi
Springfield 8 City sky 44 White House — B7, 13 mi
Hermitage 8 City sky 47 Mount Juliet — B7, 6 mi
Brentwood 8 City sky 49 Franklin — B7, 9 mi
Maryville 8 City sky 50 Farragut — B7, 14 mi
Cookeville 8 City sky 51 Crossville — B7, 30 mi
Sevierville 8 City sky 52 Seymour — B5, 9 mi
Morristown 8 City sky 54 Greeneville — B7, 26 mi
Bristol 8 City sky 55 Elizabethton — B7, 17 mi
Lebanon 8 City sky 58 Mount Juliet — B7, 13 mi
Kingsport 8 City sky 62 Johnson City — B7, 20 mi
Jackson 8 City sky 64 Corinth, MS — B7, 50 mi
Murfreesboro 8 City sky 73 La Vergne — B7, 16 mi
Knoxville 8 City sky 92 Seymour — B5, 12 mi
Chattanooga 9 Inner-city sky 114 East Chattanooga — B7, 4 mi
Memphis 9 Inner-city sky 160 West Memphis, AR — B8, 8 mi
Nashville 9 Inner-city sky 222 Brentwood — B8, 9 mi

Frequently asked questions

Where are the darkest skies in Tennessee?
The darkest town tracked here is Seymour, but the genuinely dark skies in Tennessee are its 1 certified International Dark Sky Place — Obed Wild and Scenic River — listed further down with the nearest rated town to each.
How many dark-sky towns does Tennessee have?
Of 64 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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Bortle scale · Meteor showers · Dark-sky map · Search all towns