Namibia · 25.00°S 16.00°E · 1000 m
Stargazing in NamibRand
Africa's first Dark Sky Reserve, and among the darkest skies measured anywhere.
- Sky quality
- Bortle 1 — pristine
- Clear nights a year
- ≈ 297
- 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 1 — pristineBortle class 1
- Average clear nights
- 297 per yearNights averaging under 30% cloud, 10-year ERA5 record
- Best Milky Way season
- February–OctoberPeak month: July, core reaching 85°
- Darkness quality
- Excellent10.5 h of astronomical darkness at its darkest, in May
- Typical cloud cover in October
- 16%79% of nights come in under 30% cloud
- Best month for astrophotography
- JulyAbout 20.2 dark, moon-free, statistically clear nights
- Coordinates
- -25.0000, 16.00001000 m elevation · Africa/Windhoek
Questions answered on this page
- Is tonight good for stargazing in NamibRand?
- Is the Milky Way visible from NamibRand?
- How many clear nights does NamibRand get each year?
- What is the best month for astrophotography in NamibRand?
- How many hours of true darkness does NamibRand get each month?
- How dark is the sky in NamibRand on the Bortle scale?
- When is the Milky Way core above the horizon from NamibRand?
- Should I drive somewhere darker than NamibRand?
The NamibRand Nature Reserve holds a Gold-tier Dark Sky Reserve designation, and sky-brightness measurements there are at the physical floor — what you see is limited by airglow and the zodiacal light, not by anything human. It is one of the very few places where the Milky Way genuinely casts a shadow.
The dry season from May to October delivers cloudless nights almost as a rule, and the southern winter puts the galactic core high overhead. It is a long way from anywhere, which is precisely why it stays this dark.
Evergreen intelligence
The four questions people ask about NamibRand
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 NamibRand have?
- About 297 nights a year average less than 30% cloud cover, based on 10 years of ERA5 daily reanalysis at -25.00, 16.00. The clearest month is July at 92% of nights; when you also require darkness and no Moon, roughly 210 nights a year are genuinely usable for faint targets.
- What is the best month for the Milky Way in NamibRand?
- July. The galactic centre clears 10° from February to October, and in July it reaches 85° while the sky is astronomically dark, with about 9.5 hours of usable core time a night and 92% of nights averaging under 30% cloud.
- When is it darkest in NamibRand?
- May gives the most true darkness — an average of 10.5 hours a night with the Sun more than 18° below the horizon.
- When should I plan an astrophotography trip to NamibRand?
- July offers the most nights that are simultaneously dark, moon-free and statistically clear — about 20.2 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
NamibRand 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 | 7.7 h | 22 | 24% | 66% | — | Excellent |
| Feb | 8.2 h | 21 | 24% | 66% | 36° max | Excellent |
| Mar | 9.2 h | 20 | 14% | 82% | 66° max | Excellent |
| Apr | 9.8 h | 21 | 13% | 83% | 85° max | Excellent |
| May | 10.5 h | 21 | 10% | 87% | 85° max | Excellent |
| Jun | 10.5 h | 21 | 10% | 87% | 85° max | Excellent |
| Jul | 10.5 h | 22 | 6% | 92% | 85° max | Excellent |
| Aug | 10.1 h | 21 | 8% | 90% | 85° max | Excellent |
| Sep | 9.4 h | 22 | 12% | 85% | 72° max | Excellent |
| Oct | 8.7 h | 22 | 16% | 79% | 46° max | Excellent |
| Nov | 7.9 h | 22 | 17% | 78% | — | Excellent |
| Dec | 7.5 h | 24 | 15% | 80% | — | Excellent |
"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 NamibRand is actually good for
- Milky Way core overhead
- Magellanic Clouds
- Airglow and zodiacal light
- Dry-season reliability
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 NamibRand
- Can you see the Milky Way in NamibRand?
- Yes. NamibRand sits at Bortle 1 — pristine, 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 NamibRand?
- 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 NamibRand?
- NamibRand is at latitude 25.0°S, 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 NamibRand?
- 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 .
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