Batanes Islands

How dark the sky is at Batanes Islands: Bortle Class 2, typical truly dark site

The zenith sky here reads 21.89 magnitudes per square arcsecond. That is about 1.1 times the brightness of a pristine natural sky (22.0), the extra coming from artificial light scattered in the air.

Sky brightness and class come from the World Atlas of Artificial Night Sky Brightness (Falchi et al. 2016, CC BY-NC 4.0), with natural skyglow added. On the night, haze, smoke, humidity and the Moon set the real limit; see every Bortle Class 2 place.

What's up from Batanes Islands by season

At latitude 20.5°N, the north celestial pole stands 20° above the horizon, close to Polaris. Every star north of declination -70° rises at some time of year. The Milky Way core in Sagittarius climbs to 41° above the southern horizon. These are the constellations well placed, 35° or more above the horizon, at about 10 pm in the middle of each season, brightest first.

Showpieces from Batanes Islands through the year

At about 10 pm on the 15th of each month; a dash means the sight is below 25° then.

Never set from Batanes Islands

• Ursa Minor

Only skim the southern horizon from Batanes Islands

• Carina
• Circinus
• Crux
• Dorado
• Musca
• Pavo
• Reticulum
• Triangulum Australe
• Tucana
• Volans

Never rise from Batanes Islands

• Apus
• Chamaeleon
• Hydrus
• Mensa
• Octans

Where to set up at Batanes Islands

The coordinates on this page point to Basco Lighthouse, Naidi Hills, at 30 m (100 ft): 20.451°N, 121.964°E.

Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Open the larger map · Directions. Arrive before dark, park facing away from other observers, and use red light only.

Batanes Islands among the dark sky places of Philippines

Each dot is a dark sky place, colored by Bortle class; select one for its page. See Dark sky places outside the United States for the full list, darkest first.

Camping and lodging at Batanes Islands

The nearest town with motels or inns is Basco, Philippines. Check the official site for campgrounds and overnight rules; many parks close their gates at night, so ask about after-dark access.

Dark sky places nearest Batanes Islands

Observatories and astronomy clubs near Batanes Islands

No observatory or astronomy club on the list is near Batanes Islands.

See observatories and astronomy clubs around the world. Local clubs often hold their star parties at dark sky places like this one.

Batanes Islands record

From the site's dark sky places dataset (darkparksglobal_q426). The sky by season is computed from the coordinates.