How dark is the sky in New Mexico?
Sky darkness for 40 towns and parks in New Mexico, worked out from NASA satellite images of light at night (2025). 34 of them have skies of Bortle 4 or darker, where the Milky Way shows overhead. The darkest is Gila National Forest (21.91, Bortle 2), the brightest Albuquerque (17.71, 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 New Mexico
- Gila National ForestBortle 221.91
- Cosmic CampgroundBortle 321.89
- Capulin Volcano National MonumentBortle 321.88
- Gila Cliff Dwellings National MonumentBortle 321.88
- Clayton Lake State ParkBortle 321.86
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 New Mexico
All 40 places in New Mexico
Amber names are parks and certified dark-sky places. The figure is the Bortle class: 1 darkest, 9 city center.
Albuquerque8Aztec Ruins National Monument5Bandelier National Monument4Bluewater Lake State Park4Bottomless Lakes State Park4Brantley Lake State Park4Capulin Volcano National Monument3Carlsbad Caverns National Park4Carson National Forest3Chaco Culture National Historical Park3Cibola National Forest3City of Rocks State Park3Clayton Lake State Park3Cosmic Campground3El Malpais National Conservation Area3El Malpais National Monument3El Morro National Monument3Elephant Butte Lake State Park4Enchanted Hills6Fort Stanton4Fort Union National Monument3Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument3Gila National Forest2Jemez National Recreation Area4Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument4Las Cruces8Lincoln National Forest4Oliver Lee Memorial State Park4Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument4Prehistoric Trackways National Monument4Rio Grande del Norte National Monument3Rio Mora National Wildlife Refuge and Conservation Area3Rio Rancho8Rockhound State Park4Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument3Santa Fe7Santa Fe National Forest4Santa Rosa Lake State Park4Valles Caldera National Preserve4White Sands National Park4