Can you see the Milky Way in Sedona?

Yes. Sedona sits at Bortle 3 — rural 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 Sedona?

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 Sedona?

Sedona is at latitude 34.9°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 Sedona?

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.

Arizona, USA · 34.87°N 111.76°W · 1350 m

Stargazing in Sedona

An International Dark Sky Community with red-rock foregrounds and dry desert air.

Sky quality: Bortle 3 — rural sky
Clear nights a year: ≈ 196
Best month overall: September
Milky Way core: March–October

The Milky Way is obvious and detailed overhead, and most Messier objects are visible in binoculars.

Key facts

Sky quality: Bortle 3 — rural skyBortle class 3
Average clear nights: 196 per yearNights averaging under 30% cloud, 10-year ERA5 record
Best Milky Way season: March–OctoberPeak month: May, core reaching 26°
Darkness quality: Excellent11.2 h of astronomical darkness at its darkest, in December
Typical cloud cover in July: 39%44% of nights come in under 30% cloud
Best month for astrophotography: OctoberAbout 15.5 dark, moon-free, statistically clear nights
Coordinates: 34.8697, -111.76091350 m elevation · America/Phoenix

Questions answered on this page

Is tonight good for stargazing in Sedona?
Is the Milky Way visible from Sedona?
How many clear nights does Sedona get each year?
What is the best month for astrophotography in Sedona?
How many hours of true darkness does Sedona get each month?
How dark is the sky in Sedona on the Bortle scale?
When is the Milky Way core above the horizon from Sedona?
Should I drive somewhere darker than Sedona?

Sedona has enforced dark-sky lighting ordinances since the 1970s, and the result is a town of ten thousand people where the Milky Way is still visible from residential streets. The surrounding Coconino National Forest gets you to Bortle 2 within twenty minutes.

At 1,350 m the air is dry and stable for most of the year. The exception is the July–August monsoon, when evening thunderstorms are common; spring and autumn are the reliable seasons and place the galactic core well for photography over the red rock formations.

Evergreen intelligence

The four questions people ask about Sedona

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 Sedona have?: About 196 nights a year average less than 30% cloud cover, based on 10 years of ERA5 daily reanalysis at 34.87, -111.76. The clearest month is June at 73% of nights; when you also require darkness and no Moon, roughly 133 nights a year are genuinely usable for faint targets.
What is the best month for the Milky Way in Sedona?: May. The galactic centre clears 10° from March to October, and in May it reaches 26° while the sky is astronomically dark, with about 4.5 hours of usable core time a night and 67% of nights averaging under 30% cloud.
When is it darkest in Sedona?: December gives the most true darkness — an average of 11.2 hours a night with the Sun more than 18° below the horizon.
When should I plan an astrophotography trip to Sedona?: October offers the most nights that are simultaneously dark, moon-free and statistically clear — about 15.5 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

Sedona 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.

Monthly sky conditions for Sedona (34.87, -111.76)
Month	Astro darkness	Moon-free dark nights	Avg cloud	Clear nights	Milky Way core	Rating
Jan	11.0 h	22	44%	37%	—	Good
Feb	10.1 h	21	39%	51%	—	Good
Mar	9.1 h	20	43%	35%	22° max	Workable
Apr	7.9 h	19	31%	54%	25° max	Good
May	6.7 h	20	24%	67%	26° max	Excellent
Jun	5.6 h	20	21%	73%	26° max	Excellent
Jul	6.2 h	19	39%	44%	26° max	Good
Aug	7.4 h	19	37%	46%	26° max	Good
Sep	8.7 h	19	23%	70%	21° max	Excellent
Oct	9.8 h	22	21%	71%	15° max	Excellent
Nov	10.8 h	24	32%	55%	—	Good
Dec	11.2 h	25	44%	40%	—	Good

"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 Sedona is actually good for

Milky Way over red rock
Accessible dark sky
Spring and autumn 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 Sedona

Can you see the Milky Way in Sedona?: Yes. Sedona sits at Bortle 3 — rural 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 Sedona?: 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 Sedona?: Sedona is at latitude 34.9°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 Sedona?: 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

Every number on this page is computed for 34.8697, -111.7609 from the sources below. Nothing is copied from another site, and nothing is estimated by hand.

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 2026-07-30.

Other locations

All stargazing locations →