YozoraAtlas

How dark is the sky in Schleswig-Holstein?

Sky darkness for 11 towns and parks in Schleswig-Holstein, worked out from NASA satellite images of light at night (2025). 6 of them have skies of Bortle 4 or darker, where the Milky Way shows overhead. The darkest is Pellworm (21.79, Bortle 3), the brightest Kiel (19.18, Bortle 6). The bright core of the Milky Way never climbs clear of the horizon haze anywhere in Schleswig-Holstein while the sky is fully dark; the rest of the band passes overhead, with the longest moonless nights from September to March.

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 Schleswig-Holstein with every place marked

Darkest skies in Schleswig-Holstein

  1. PellwormBortle 321.79
  2. Schlei Nature ParkBortle 421.55
  3. Holstein Switzerland Nature ParkBortle 421.38
  4. Aukrug Nature ParkBortle 421.34
  5. Lauenburg Lakes Nature ParkBortle 421.33

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 Schleswig-Holstein

  1. KielBortle 619.18
  2. LübeckBortle 519.54
  3. FlensburgBortle 519.77
  4. NorderstedtBortle 519.80
  5. NeumünsterBortle 519.84

All 11 places in Schleswig-Holstein

Amber names are parks and certified dark-sky places. The figure is the Bortle class: 1 darkest, 9 city center.
Aukrug Nature Park4Flensburg5Holstein Switzerland Nature Park4Kiel6Lauenburg Lakes Nature Park4Lübeck5Neumünster5Norderstedt5Pellworm3Schlei Nature Park4Westensee Nature Park4