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

How dark is the sky in Tasman?

Sky darkness for 5 towns and parks in Tasman, 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 Nelson Lakes National Park (21.93, Bortle 2), the brightest Richmond (19.78, Bortle 5). Milky Way season in Tasman runs February to October: on moonless nights the bright core stands clear of the horizon, climbing to about 78° 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 Tasman with every place marked

Darkest skies in Tasman

  1. Nelson Lakes National ParkBortle 221.93
  2. Kahurangi National ParkBortle 221.91
  3. Abel Tasman National ParkBortle 321.88
  4. Wai-itiBortle 321.73

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 Tasman

  1. RichmondBortle 519.78

All 5 places in Tasman

Amber names are parks and certified dark-sky places. The figure is the Bortle class: 1 darkest, 9 city center.
Abel Tasman National Park3Kahurangi National Park2Nelson Lakes National Park2Richmond5Wai-iti3