YozoraAtlas

How dark is the sky in Västra Götaland?

Sky darkness for 13 towns and parks in Västra Götaland, 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 Tiveden National Park (21.37, Bortle 4), the brightest Gothenburg (17.27, Bortle 8). The bright core of the Milky Way never climbs clear of the horizon haze anywhere in Västra Götaland while the sky is fully dark; the rest of the band passes overhead, with the longest moonless nights from October to March.

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 Västra Götaland with every place marked

Darkest skies in Västra Götaland

  1. Tiveden National ParkBortle 421.37
  2. Tresticklan National ParkBortle 421.28

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 Västra Götaland

  1. GothenburgBortle 817.27
  2. PartilleBortle 818.24
  3. BoråsBortle 818.25
  4. SkövdeBortle 718.42
  5. TrollhättanBortle 718.50

All 13 places in Västra Götaland

Amber names are parks and certified dark-sky places. The figure is the Bortle class: 1 darkest, 9 city center.
Alingsås7Borås8Gothenburg8Kungälv7Lerum6Lidköping7Partille8Skövde7Tiveden National Park4Tresticklan National Park4Trollhättan7Uddevalla7Vänersborg7