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Sky brightness
—
mag/arcsec²
≈ Bortle —
data 2025–26
This number describes the place : artificial light plus natural airglow, with the Milky Way left out so two sites compare the same on any night.
Click or tap anywhere on the map to read the modelled sky brightness there. Curious how this number is worked out?
How this map is made →
What you will see
Choose a point to see whether the Milky Way is visible here, roughly how many stars show, and the single most useful sentence for this darkness band. To see what a sky this dark actually looks like in a photograph, two real frames from the same photographer are on why the Milky Way disappears from most skies .
Your horizon
Terrain is off. Turn it on with the Terrain control to read this point’s horizon from real elevation data: how much of the sky is open, the darkest direction to face, and a compact horizon profile. Nothing is fetched from anywhere until you turn it on, and only the coordinates you chose are sent.
The sky from here
A view of tonight's astronomical dark from this exact point, carrying the same terrain horizon as the card above whenever Terrain is on, and a flat horizon when it is not.
Shoot here
Exposure guidance derived from this sky's brightness, across a few common apertures.
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Compare
Pin a second point to see both skies side by side.
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Light Pollution Atlas © David Lorenz ·
VIIRS: EOG ·
Base map: © OpenStreetMap contributors
(ODbL )
· Protomaps ·
Time zones: timezone-boundary-builder
(ODbL ) ·
How this map is made