YozoraAtlas

How dark is the sky in Norrbotten?

Sky darkness for 9 towns and parks in Norrbotten, worked out from NASA satellite images of light at night (2025). 7 of them have skies of Bortle 4 or darker, where the Milky Way shows overhead. The darkest is Pieljekaise National Park (21.90, Bortle 2), the brightest Luleå (17.10, Bortle 8). The bright core of the Milky Way never climbs clear of the horizon haze anywhere in Norrbotten while the sky is fully dark; the rest of the band passes overhead, with the longest moonless nights from October to February.

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 Norrbotten with every place marked

Darkest skies in Norrbotten

  1. Pieljekaise National ParkBortle 221.90
  2. Sarek National ParkBortle 321.87
  3. Stora Sjöfallet National ParkBortle 321.85
  4. Padjelanta National ParkBortle 321.81
  5. Muddus National ParkBortle 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 Norrbotten

  1. LuleåBortle 817.10
  2. PiteåBortle 817.57

All 9 places in Norrbotten

Amber names are parks and certified dark-sky places. The figure is the Bortle class: 1 darkest, 9 city center.
Abisko National Park4Luleå8Muddus National Park3Padjelanta National Park3Pieljekaise National Park2Piteå8Sarek National Park3Stora Sjöfallet National Park3Vadvetjåkka National Park4