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

How dark is the sky in Otago?

Sky darkness for 9 towns and parks in Otago, worked out from NASA satellite images of light at night (2025). 4 of them have skies of Bortle 4 or darker, where the Milky Way shows overhead. The darkest is Tāhuna Glenorchy (21.92, Bortle 2), the brightest Dunedin (18.71, Bortle 7). Milky Way season in Otago runs February to October: on moonless nights the bright core stands clear of the horizon, climbing to about 75° 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 Otago with every place marked

Darkest skies in Otago

  1. Tāhuna GlenorchyBortle 221.92
  2. NasebyBortle 221.90
  3. Mount Aspiring National ParkBortle 321.89
  4. Kawarau GibbstonBortle 321.74

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 Otago

  1. DunedinBortle 718.71
  2. QueenstownBortle 519.94
  3. MosgielBortle 520.27
  4. OamaruBortle 520.27
  5. WanakaBortle 520.38

All 9 places in Otago

Amber names are parks and certified dark-sky places. The figure is the Bortle class: 1 darkest, 9 city center.
Dunedin7Kawarau Gibbston3Mosgiel5Mount Aspiring National Park3Naseby2Oamaru5Queenstown5Tāhuna Glenorchy2Wanaka5