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

How dark is the sky in Manawatū-Whanganui?

Sky darkness for 5 towns and parks in Manawatū-Whanganui, worked out from NASA satellite images of light at night (2025). 2 of them have skies of Bortle 4 or darker, where the Milky Way shows overhead. The darkest is Tongariro National Park (21.89, Bortle 3), the brightest Palmerston North (18.85, Bortle 7). Milky Way season in Manawatū-Whanganui runs February to October: on moonless nights the bright core stands clear of the horizon, climbing to about 80° 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 Manawatū-Whanganui with every place marked

Darkest skies in Manawatū-Whanganui

  1. Tongariro National ParkBortle 321.89
  2. Whanganui National ParkBortle 321.88

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 Manawatū-Whanganui

  1. Palmerston NorthBortle 718.85
  2. WhanganuiBortle 519.83
  3. LevinBortle 519.98

All 5 places in Manawatū-Whanganui

Amber names are parks and certified dark-sky places. The figure is the Bortle class: 1 darkest, 9 city center.
Levin5Palmerston North7Tongariro National Park3Whanganui5Whanganui National Park3