YozoraAtlas

How dark is the sky in South Carolina?

Sky darkness for 9 towns and parks in South Carolina, worked out from NASA satellite images of light at night (2025). 3 of them have skies of Bortle 4 or darker, where the Milky Way shows overhead. The darkest is Devils Fork State Park (20.65, Bortle 4), the brightest Columbia (17.56, 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 South Carolina with every place marked

Darkest skies in South Carolina

  1. Devils Fork State ParkBortle 420.65
  2. Table Rock State ParkBortle 420.57
  3. Caesars Head State ParkBortle 420.52

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 South Carolina

  1. ColumbiaBortle 817.56
  2. North CharlestonBortle 817.93
  3. GreenvilleBortle 818.06
  4. Rock HillBortle 818.25
  5. CharlestonBortle 718.52

All 9 places in South Carolina

Amber names are parks and certified dark-sky places. The figure is the Bortle class: 1 darkest, 9 city center.
Caesars Head State Park4Charleston7Columbia8Congaree National Park5Devils Fork State Park4Greenville8North Charleston8Rock Hill8Table Rock State Park4