YozoraAtlas

How dark is the sky in Silesia?

Sky darkness for 19 towns and parks in Silesia, 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 Sopotnia Wielka (20.96, Bortle 4), the brightest Katowice (18.17, Bortle 8). The bright core of the Milky Way never climbs clear of the horizon haze anywhere in Silesia while the sky is fully dark; the rest of the band passes overhead, with the longest moonless nights from September to April.

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 Silesia with every place marked

Darkest skies in Silesia

  1. Sopotnia WielkaBortle 420.96
  2. Eagles' Nests Landscape ParkBortle 420.78

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 Silesia

  1. KatowiceBortle 818.17
  2. GliwiceBortle 718.63
  3. Bielsko-BiałaBortle 718.72
  4. BytomBortle 718.80
  5. ZabrzeBortle 718.84

All 19 places in Silesia

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