Canary Islands · 28.75°N 17.89°W · 2396 m
Stargazing in La Palma
Europe's best sky: above the inversion layer, legally protected, and clear most nights.
- Sky quality
- Bortle 2 — excellent dark sky
- Clear nights a year
- ≈ 149
- Best month overall
- July
- Milky Way core
- February–October
The Milky Way shows structure and casts a faint shadow; the zodiacal light and airglow are visible to the naked eye.
Key facts
- Sky quality
- Bortle 2 — excellent dark skyBortle class 2
- Average clear nights
- 149 per yearNights averaging under 30% cloud, 10-year ERA5 record
- Best Milky Way season
- February–OctoberPeak month: July, core reaching 32°
- Darkness quality
- Excellent10.7 h of astronomical darkness at its darkest, in December
- Typical cloud cover in October
- 45%31% of nights come in under 30% cloud
- Best month for astrophotography
- JulyAbout 16.2 dark, moon-free, statistically clear nights
- Coordinates
- 28.7543, -17.88592396 m elevation · Atlantic/Canary
Questions answered on this page
- Is tonight good for stargazing in La Palma?
- Is the Milky Way visible from La Palma?
- How many clear nights does La Palma get each year?
- What is the best month for astrophotography in La Palma?
- How many hours of true darkness does La Palma get each month?
- How dark is the sky in La Palma on the Bortle scale?
- When is the Milky Way core above the horizon from La Palma?
- Should I drive somewhere darker than La Palma?
The Roque de los Muchachos ridge on La Palma sits at 2,400 m, above a persistent cloud inversion that acts as a lid over the island's weather and a shield against its lights. The island's Sky Law protects the site, making it one of the very few places in Europe where light pollution is actively regulated.
For northern-hemisphere observers this is the practical compromise between accessibility and sky quality: a short flight, tarmac roads to altitude, and transparency that European mainland sites cannot match. Summer is the driest and steadiest season; winter brings occasional calima dust from the Sahara.
Evergreen intelligence
The four questions people ask about La Palma
Computed from 10 years of ERA5 reanalysis at these coordinates and a full year of Sun and Moon geometry — not copied from anywhere.
- How many clear nights does La Palma have?
- About 149 nights a year average less than 30% cloud cover, based on 10 years of ERA5 daily reanalysis at 28.75, -17.89. The clearest month is July at 81% of nights; when you also require darkness and no Moon, roughly 101 nights a year are genuinely usable for faint targets.
- What is the best month for the Milky Way in La Palma?
- July. The galactic centre clears 10° from February to October, and in July it reaches 32° while the sky is astronomically dark, with about 5.5 hours of usable core time a night and 81% of nights averaging under 30% cloud.
- When is it darkest in La Palma?
- December gives the most true darkness — an average of 10.7 hours a night with the Sun more than 18° below the horizon.
- When should I plan an astrophotography trip to La Palma?
- July offers the most nights that are simultaneously dark, moon-free and statistically clear — about 16.2 of them. Book around the new Moon in that month and keep two spare nights; a single fixed date at any location is a coin toss.
Darkness calendar
La Palma month by month
Astronomical darkness and Moon geometry are computed for these coordinates. Cloud figures are ten-year ERA5 daily means. Rating combines darkness, moon-free nights and clear-sky odds.
| Month | Astro darkness | Moon-free dark nights | Avg cloud | Clear nights | Milky Way core | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 10.5 h | 22 | 45% | 32% | — | Workable |
| Feb | 10.0 h | 21 | 44% | 31% | 17° max | Workable |
| Mar | 9.3 h | 21 | 47% | 25% | 27° max | Workable |
| Apr | 8.3 h | 20 | 45% | 25% | 32° max | Workable |
| May | 7.4 h | 20 | 41% | 34% | 32° max | Workable |
| Jun | 6.5 h | 20 | 32% | 49% | 32° max | Good |
| Jul | 7.1 h | 20 | 17% | 81% | 32° max | Excellent |
| Aug | 8.0 h | 20 | 18% | 78% | 32° max | Excellent |
| Sep | 8.8 h | 20 | 36% | 50% | 29° max | Good |
| Oct | 9.9 h | 22 | 45% | 31% | 20° max | Workable |
| Nov | 10.5 h | 24 | 51% | 21% | — | Workable |
| Dec | 10.7 h | 24 | 48% | 30% | — | Workable |
"Moon-free dark nights" counts nights with at least two hours of astronomical darkness during which the Moon stays below the horizon. "Clear nights" is the share of days in the ERA5 record averaging under 30% cloud cover.
Practical
What La Palma is actually good for
- Deep-sky imaging
- Milky Way core higher than mainland Europe
- Reliable summer clear nights
For a decision on a specific night rather than a season, the SnapCosmos Night Engine scores tonight and the next six nights from these coordinates — . The method, weighting and known limits are documented on the Night Engine page, and its measured accuracy is published here.
FAQ
Common questions about the sky in La Palma
- Can you see the Milky Way in La Palma?
- Yes. La Palma sits at Bortle 2 — excellent dark sky, where the Milky Way is an obvious, structured band whenever the galactic centre is above the horizon and the Moon is down.
- When is the best time of year to stargaze in La Palma?
- It depends on what you want to see, and the month-by-month table on this page ranks every month by hours of astronomical darkness, moon-free nights and ten years of cloud statistics for these exact coordinates.
- How dark does it get in La Palma?
- La Palma is at latitude 28.8°N, and this page computes the hours of true astronomical darkness — Sun more than 18° below the horizon — for every month of the year at that latitude.
- Is tonight a good night in La Palma?
- The SnapCosmos Night Engine scores tonight for these coordinates against the coming week using live cloud forecasts, Moon geometry and darkness, and returns a single go, wait or skip recommendation.
Where these numbers come from
- Ten-year cloud-cover climatology and historical night rankingERA5 reanalysisECMWF / Copernicus Climate Change Service
- Hourly cloud cover, precipitation, humidity and visibility forecastsOpen-Meteo forecast and archive APIOpen-Meteo
- Sun, Moon and planet positions, rise and set times, twilight phasesAstronomy Engine (VSOP87 / ELP2000 series)Don Cross, after the IMCCE and JPL analytical theories
- Bortle class and sky-brightness context for each locationWorld Atlas of Artificial Night Sky Brightness (Falchi et al., 2016)Science Advances / Light Pollution Map
- Definitions of civil, nautical and astronomical twilight, and lunar phase conventionsAstronomical Applications DepartmentUnited States Naval Observatory
Figures on this page last recomputed .
Related