YozoraAtlas

How dark is the sky in La Rioja?

Sky darkness for 2 towns and parks in La Rioja, worked out from NASA satellite images of light at night (2025). 1 of them has skies of Bortle 4 or darker, where the Milky Way shows overhead. The darkest is Sierra de Cebollera Natural Park (21.41, Bortle 4), the brightest Logroño (18.05, Bortle 8). Milky Way season in La Rioja runs April to August: on moonless nights the bright core stands clear of the horizon, climbing to about 19° 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 La Rioja with every place marked

Darkest skies in La Rioja

  1. Sierra de Cebollera Natural ParkBortle 421.41

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 La Rioja

  1. LogroñoBortle 818.05

All 2 places in La Rioja

Amber names are parks and certified dark-sky places. The figure is the Bortle class: 1 darkest, 9 city center.
Logroño8Sierra de Cebollera Natural Park4