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

How dark is the sky in Vidzeme?

Sky darkness for 7 towns and parks in Vidzeme, worked out from NASA satellite images of light at night (2025). 5 of them have skies of Bortle 4 or darker, where the Milky Way shows overhead. The darkest is Gaiziņkalns Nature Park (21.72, Bortle 3), the brightest Valmiera (19.16, Bortle 6). The bright core of the Milky Way never climbs clear of the horizon haze anywhere in Vidzeme while the sky is fully dark; the rest of the band passes overhead, with the longest moonless nights from October 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 Vidzeme with every place marked

Darkest skies in Vidzeme

  1. Gaiziņkalns Nature ParkBortle 321.72
  2. Kuja Nature ParkBortle 421.69
  3. Driksnis Heath Nature ParkBortle 421.68
  4. Salaca River Valley Nature ParkBortle 421.66
  5. Gauja National ParkBortle 421.37

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 Vidzeme

  1. ValmieraBortle 619.16
  2. OgreBortle 619.46

All 7 places in Vidzeme

Amber names are parks and certified dark-sky places. The figure is the Bortle class: 1 darkest, 9 city center.
Driksnis Heath Nature Park4Gaiziņkalns Nature Park3Gauja National Park4Kuja Nature Park4Ogre6Salaca River Valley Nature Park4Valmiera6