2023 Global Dark Sky Directory The darkest skies have the least light pollution from nighttime lighting and other sources. Light pollution is a worsening problem over time as more people means more development and the continued spread of lighting. The Bortle scale is one measure of determining sky brightness (light pollution) at night. A number of places are protected for their dark skies - these generally are at national and state parks and forests around the world. The International Dark-Sky Association (IDA) vets dark sky locations and are a good place to start in your search for truly dark skies. Bear in mind that there are LOTS of other locations that are "dark enough" as well, they just haven't been approved by the IDA (yet), which is a 2-3 year long process. Sanctuaries & reserves listed on this page are IDA-certified sites that have the darkest skies for stargazing, with parks being next. IDA Sanctuaries and reserves are the darkest, with IDA parks being the second darkest...but being IDA-certified does not imply a specific Bortle value. One IDA sanctuary can be Bortle 1, while another may be Bortle 3. Besides using IDA has a dark-sky resource, here are a couple other tools for determining how dark a location is for astronomy and astrophotography: U.S. nighttime lights satellite map 2019 satellite image showing US light pollution. See full interactive map at Blue Marble Navigator. U.S. light pollution map 2015 map showing US light pollution based on Bortle scale/SQM data. See full interactive map at LightPollutionMap.info. U.S. dark sky sanctuaries & reserves IDA-designated sanctuaries and reserves in the United States that have the darkest skies. NAME LOCATION Central Idaho Dark Sky Ketchum USA Katahdin Woods & Waters Millinocket USA Boundary Waters Canoe Martin Landing USA Medicine Rocks Ekalaka USA Cosmic Campground Gila USA Massacre Rim Vya USA Black Gap Marathon USA Devils River State Del Rio USA Rainbow Bridge Lake Powell USA U.S. dark sky site list Comprehensive list of dark-sky sites (including IDA-sanctioned locations) in the U.S. by state, with Bortle numbers where known: AL AK AZ AR CA CO CT DE FL GA HI ID IL IN IA KS KY LA ME MD MA MI MN MS MO MT NE NV NH NJ NM NY NC ND OH OK OR PA RI SC SD TN TX UT VT VA WA WV WI WY Alabama dark sky sites Alaska dark sky sites Arizona dark sky sites Arkansas dark sky sites California dark sky sites Colorado dark sky sites Connecticut dark sky sites DC dark sky sites Delaware dark sky sites Florida dark sky sites Georgia dark sky sites Hawaii dark sky sites Idaho dark sky sites Illinois dark sky sites Indiana dark sky sites Iowa dark sky sites Kansas dark sky sites Kentucky dark sky sites Louisiana dark sky sites Maine dark sky sites Maryland dark sky sites Massachusetts dark sky sites Michigan dark sky sites Minnesota dark sky sites Mississippi dark sky sites Missouri dark sky sites Montana dark sky sites Nebraska dark sky sites Nevada dark sky sites New Hampshire dark sky sites New Jersey dark sky sites New Mexico dark sky sites New York dark sky sites North Carolina dark sky sites North Dakota dark sky sites Ohio dark sky sites Oklahoma dark sky sites Oregon dark sky sites Pennsylvania dark sky sites Rhode Island dark sky sites South Carolina dark sky sites South Dakota dark sky sites Tennessee dark sky sites Texas dark sky sites Utah dark sky sites Vermont dark sky sites Virginia dark sky sites Washington dark sky sites West Virginia dark sky sites Wisconsin dark sky sites Wyoming dark sky sites Worldwide dark skies Worldwide nighttime lights satellite map 2019 satellite image showing worldwide light pollution. See full interactive map at Blue Marble Navigator. Worldwide light pollution map 2015 map showing worldwide light pollution based on SQM/Bortle data. See full interactive map at LightPollutionMap.info. Worldwide dark sky sanctuaries & reserves IDA-designated sanctuaries and reserves that have the darkest skies. NAME LOCATION River Murray Swan Reach Australia The Jump-up QLD Australia Mont-Megantic Notre-Dame-des-Bois Canada Gabriela Mistral Elqui Valley Chile Cranborne-Chase Wiltshire England Exmoor North Devon England Moore's Reserve South Downs England North York Moors Pickering England Yorkshire Dales Bainbridge England Alpes Azur Mercantour Beuil France Cevennes Cassagnas France Pic du Midi Hautes-Pyrenees France Rhon Biosphere Hilders Germany Westhavelland Milower Land Germany Kerry Reserve Kerry Ireland NamibRand Namib Desert Namibia Aoraki Mackenzie South Island New Zealand Aotea Great Barrier Island New Zealand Rakiura Stewart Island New Zealand Niue Niue Pitcairn Islands Pitcairn Islands !Ae!Hai Kalahari Twee Rivieren South Africa Brecon Beacons Brecon Wales Snowdonia Betws-y-Coed Wales Worldwide dark sky parks IDA-designated parks that have the darkest skies. NAME LOCATION Warrumbungle NSW Australia Naturpark Attersee-Traunsee Austria Quetico Atikokan Canada Petrova gora-Biljeg Croatia Vrani Kamen Daruvar Croatia Mon and Nyord Denmark Bodmin Moor Cornwall England Northumberland Northumberland England Eifel N. Rhine-Westphalia Germany Winklmoosalm Bavaria Germany Bukk Miskolc Hungary Hortobagy Hungary Zselic Hungary Ballycroy County Mayo Ireland Mayo Park County Mayo Ireland Ramon Crater Negev Israel Iriomote-Ishigaki Okinawa Prefecture Japan Kozushima Island Kozushima Village Japan Davagh Forest County Tyrone N. Ireland OM Park County Tyrone N. Ireleand De Boschplaat Terschelling Netherlands Lauwersmeer Netherlands Wai-Iti New Zealand Cairngorms Scotland Galloway Forest Scotland Tomintoul & Glenlivet Moray Scotland Yeongyang Firefly South Korea Albanya Girona Spain Hehuan Mountain Nantou County Taiwan Elan Valley Estate Powys Wales
