YozoraAtlasyo·zo·ra (夜空) n. [Jap.] night sky

How dark is the sky in Northern Territory?

Sky darkness for 20 towns and parks in Northern Territory, worked out from NASA satellite images of light at night (2025). 16 of them have skies of Bortle 4 or darker, where the Milky Way shows overhead. The darkest is Dulcie Range National Park (21.95, Bortle 2), the brightest Darwin (19.00, Bortle 6). Milky Way season in Northern Territory runs February to October: on moonless nights the bright core stands clear of the horizon, climbing to about 86° at its highest.

19 Bortle class, 1 pristine to 9 city center park or dark-sky place city

Numbers like 21.95 or 16.97 are the brightness of the sky overhead on a clear, moonless night, in mag/arcsec². The scale runs backwards: a lower number means a brighter sky, from about 22 for a natural sky to about 17 in a city center.
How the readings are made

NASA satellite night-lights map of Northern Territory with every place marked

Darkest skies in Northern Territory

  1. Dulcie Range National ParkBortle 221.95
  2. Garig Gunak Barlu National ParkBortle 221.95
  3. Judbarra / Gregory National ParkBortle 221.95
  4. Karlu KarluBortle 221.95
  5. Munga-Thirri National ParkBortle 221.95

Among the places on this site. Plenty of land between them is just as dark, with no town or park to name it by.

Brightest city skies in Northern Territory

  1. DarwinBortle 619.00
  2. PalmerstonBortle 619.30
  3. Alice SpringsBortle 619.35

All 20 places in Northern Territory

Amber names are parks and certified dark-sky places. The figure is the Bortle class: 1 darkest, 9 city center.
Alice Springs6Charles Darwin National Park5Darwin6Djukbinj National Park3Dulcie Range National Park2Elsey National Park2Finke Gorge National Park2Garig Gunak Barlu National Park2Judbarra / Gregory National Park2Kakadu National Park2Karlu Karlu2Keep River National Park2Litchfield National Park2Mary River National Park3Munga-Thirri National Park2Nitmiluk National Park3Palmerston6Tjoritja / West MacDonnell National Park2Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa National Park3Watarrka National Park2