YozoraAtlas

How dark is the sky in Hawaii?

Sky darkness for 13 towns and parks in Hawaii, worked out from NASA satellite images of light at night (2025). 12 of them have skies of Bortle 4 or darker, where the Milky Way shows overhead. The darkest is Koke'e State Park (21.90, Bortle 2), the brightest Honolulu (18.18, 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

NASA satellite night-lights map of Hawaii with every place marked

Darkest skies in Hawaii

  1. Koke'e State ParkBortle 221.90
  2. Nā Pali Coast State ParkBortle 221.90
  3. Haʻena State ParkBortle 321.89
  4. Waimea Canyon State ParkBortle 321.88
  5. Wai'anapanapa State ParkBortle 321.84

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 Hawaii

  1. HonoluluBortle 818.18

All 13 places in Hawaii

Amber names are parks and certified dark-sky places. The figure is the Bortle class: 1 darkest, 9 city center.
Akaka Falls State Park3Haleakalā National Park3Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park4Haʻena State Park3Honolulu8Koke'e State Park2Lava Tree State Monument4Makena State Park4Nā Pali Coast State Park2Sacred Falls State Park4Wai'anapanapa State Park3Wailua River State Park4Waimea Canyon State Park3