How dark is the sky in Sweden?
Sky darkness for 88 towns and parks in Sweden, worked out from NASA satellite images of light at night (2025). 22 of them have skies of Bortle 4 or darker, where the Milky Way shows overhead. The darkest is Töfsingdalen National Park (21.90, Bortle 2), the brightest Luleå (17.10, Bortle 8).
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
Darkest skies in Sweden
- Töfsingdalen National ParkDalarna · Bortle 221.90
- Pieljekaise National ParkNorrbotten · Bortle 221.90
- Hamra National ParkGävleborg · Bortle 321.88
- Sonfjället National ParkJämtland · Bortle 321.88
- Sarek National ParkNorrbotten · Bortle 321.87
Among the places on this site. Plenty of land between them is just as dark, with no town or park to name it by.
Darkest place in each county of Sweden
| County | Places | Dark places Bortle 1 to 4 | Darkest place |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blekinge | 2 places | 0 dark | Karlshamn19.11 · Bortle 6 |
| Dalarna | 4 places | 2 dark | Töfsingdalen National Park21.90 · Bortle 2 |
| Gotland | 1 place | 0 dark | Visby18.87 · Bortle 7 |
| Gävleborg | 3 places | 1 dark | Hamra National Park21.88 · Bortle 3 |
| Halland | 3 places | 0 dark | Falkenberg18.96 · Bortle 6 |
| Jämtland | 2 places | 1 dark | Sonfjället National Park21.88 · Bortle 3 |
| Jönköping | 3 places | 1 dark | Store Mosse National Park20.87 · Bortle 4 |
| Kalmar | 3 places | 1 dark | Norra Kvill National Park21.44 · Bortle 4 |
| Kronoberg | 2 places | 1 dark | Åsnen National Park21.41 · Bortle 4 |
| Norrbotten | 9 places | 7 dark | Pieljekaise National Park21.90 · Bortle 2 |
| Skåne | 10 places | 2 dark | Stenshuvud National Park21.07 · Bortle 4 |
| Stockholm | 12 places | 0 dark | Tyresta National Park19.17 · Bortle 6 |
| Södermanland | 3 places | 0 dark | Katrineholm18.56 · Bortle 7 |
| Uppsala | 3 places | 1 dark | Färnebofjärden National Park21.36 · Bortle 4 |
| Värmland | 1 place | 0 dark | Karlstad18.28 · Bortle 8 |
| Västerbotten | 3 places | 1 dark | Björnlandet National Park21.81 · Bortle 3 |
| Västernorrland | 4 places | 1 dark | Skuleskogen National Park21.44 · Bortle 4 |
| Västmanland | 1 place | 0 dark | Västerås17.98 · Bortle 8 |
| Västra Götaland | 13 places | 2 dark | Tiveden National Park21.37 · Bortle 4 |
| Örebro | 3 places | 1 dark | Garphyttan National Park20.60 · Bortle 4 |
| Östergötland | 3 places | 0 dark | Motala18.79 · Bortle 7 |