Albany Stargazing & Astronomy Report

Light pollution and stargazing locations near Albany

City
Albany
Country
Australia
Latitude
-35.0269
Longitude
117.8837

Key Sky Quality Metrics

SQM (mag/arcsec²)
19.47
Bortle class
Class 7 (Class 7)
Darkness Quotient
39%
Dataset
March 2026

Suburban/urban transition

Albany stargazing overview

Albany is a coastal town on the south coast of Western Australia, set well away from the state’s larger urban centres.

With a Darkness Quotient of 39%, Albany falls in the High Light Pollution tier, darker than the biggest Australian cities but still bright enough for local town lighting to have a clear effect on the night sky. From within town, the Moon, planets, brighter star fields and the more obvious clusters come through well enough, but faint galaxies, delicate nebulae and the full sweep of the Milky Way lose contrast quickly. On the better nights you can still enjoy bright showpiece objects, though the sky glow overhead limits how much subtle detail survives.

The encouraging part is that darker skies are very close at hand. Head roughly 10 kilometres south-south-east towards Frenchman Bay, Western Australia, and you are already into a much darker sky, with even deeper conditions available a little farther east-north-east around Manypeaks, Western Australia.

The light-pollution pattern around Albany shows a compact bright core centred on town, with the strongest glow concentrated locally rather than sprawling far inland. That is typical of a smaller regional settlement, where the main light dome is obvious overhead and near the horizon but drops away quite quickly once you leave the built-up area.

Beyond that central bright patch, the map darkens rapidly in almost every direction. The south, south-east, east and west all improve within a short distance, and the broadest darker regions appear inland to the north-east and east-north-east, where the background becomes markedly cleaner than the town centre.

This makes Albany quite different from a major city, where sky glow can dominate a very wide area. Here, the town is the main source of artificial brightness in its surroundings, so once you are outside it the sky improves fast and reaches genuinely dark conditions without needing a long journey.

Looking straight up from Albany

At the zenith, Albany sits at Bortle Class 7 with an SQM of 19.47, so the sky straight overhead is noticeably affected by artificial light. You can still pick out the brighter constellations easily, and the richer star clouds are not completely lost, but the darker lanes and finer structure that make the sky look deep and three-dimensional are much reduced.

In practical terms, looking straight up is better than looking towards the brighter horizon, yet it remains a suburban-urban transition sort of sky rather than a truly dark one. The Milky Way can be patchy and subdued from town, while bright planets, the Moon and the standout star patterns remain easy targets.

north - excellent

Fifteen kilometres to the north, the sky reaches Bortle 3 conditions, which counts as excellent for visual observing and a major improvement on Albany itself. Darker skies begin quite quickly in this direction, and by around 25 kilometres the background is darker again, pushing into Bortle 2 territory.

north-north-east - excellent

Fifteen kilometres to the north-north-east, the sky is at Bortle 3, so this is an excellent direction if you want a short hop to much better contrast. The improvement starts early, and carrying on to about 25 kilometres brings even darker conditions.

north-east - excellent

At 15 kilometres out to the north-east, the sky is Bortle 3, which is excellent by regional town standards. Keep going to roughly 25 kilometres and it improves further, with very dark country extending well beyond that.

east-north-east - excellent

Fifteen kilometres to the east-north-east, the sky is Bortle 3 and already excellent for seeing far more of the Milky Way and dimmer deep-sky objects. In this direction the dark threshold is reached especially quickly, from about 10 kilometres out, and by around 25 kilometres the sky is darker still.

east - excellent

Fifteen kilometres east of Albany, the sky reaches Bortle 3, making this an excellent direction for escaping the town glow. You hit genuinely dark conditions by about 10 kilometres, and a little farther on the background improves again into very dark rural sky.

east-south-east - excellent

At 15 kilometres to the east-south-east, the sky is Bortle 3, which is excellent and dramatically better than staying in town. Dark conditions arrive by roughly 10 kilometres in this direction, with still darker skies beyond about 25 kilometres.

south-east - excellent

Fifteen kilometres to the south-east, the sky reaches Bortle 3, so this is another excellent route out of Albany’s local light dome. You do not need to go far, as dark conditions begin around 10 kilometres from town and improve further with distance.

south-south-east - excellent

At 15 kilometres to the south-south-east, the sky is Bortle 3, an excellent result and very close to the nearest dark-sky escape from Albany. This direction improves quickly, with genuinely dark sky appearing from around 10 kilometres out and even deeper darkness farther beyond.

south - excellent

Fifteen kilometres south of Albany, the sky reaches Bortle 3, making it an excellent direction for a short observing trip. The town glow falls away fast here, and once you are around 25 kilometres out the sky becomes darker again.

south-south-west - excellent

Fifteen kilometres to the south-south-west, the sky is Bortle 3, which counts as excellent for both visual observing and wide-field imaging. You reach dark sky by roughly 10 kilometres, and there is further improvement if you continue outward.

south-west - excellent

At 15 kilometres to the south-west, the sky reaches Bortle 3, so this is an excellent direction overall. Dark conditions arrive from about 10 kilometres out, and by around 25 kilometres the background is darker again.

west-south-west - excellent

Fifteen kilometres to the west-south-west, the sky is Bortle 3, giving excellent quality compared with Albany town centre. The dark threshold is reached at about 10 kilometres, and carrying on a bit farther improves the sky further.

west - excellent

At 15 kilometres west of Albany, the sky reaches Bortle 3, so this direction is excellent once you are clear of town lighting. Dark sky begins around 10 kilometres out, with very dark conditions beyond roughly 25 kilometres.

west-north-west - excellent

Fifteen kilometres to the west-north-west, the sky is Bortle 3, which counts as excellent. This direction improves a touch more gradually than some others, but by around 15 kilometres you are already under much darker skies, with further gains farther out.

north-west - excellent

At 15 kilometres to the north-west, the sky reaches Bortle 3, making this an excellent direction despite a slightly brighter start close to town. The first few kilometres remain more affected by Albany’s glow, then conditions improve strongly and become darker again beyond about 25 kilometres.

north-north-west - excellent

Fifteen kilometres to the north-north-west, the sky is Bortle 3, so this is still an excellent direction once you are clear of the immediate outskirts. The near range is a little more affected than some other bearings, but the improvement becomes obvious and substantial within a short drive.

zenith - poor

Looking straight up from Albany itself, the zenith is Bortle 7, which rates as poor compared with the surrounding countryside. The main constellations remain easy to trace and brighter stars still stand out, but the sky background is bright enough to wash out many faint stars and leave the Milky Way weak or patchy rather than bold.

  • Frenchman Bay, Western Australia
    Direction
    SSE
    Distance (km)
    8.1
    SQM
    21.36
    Bortle
    3
  • Kronkup, Western Australia
    Direction
    WSW
    Distance (km)
    22.3
    SQM
    21.48
    Bortle
    3
  • Manypeaks, Western Australia
    Direction
    ENE
    Distance (km)
    28.5
    SQM
    21.72
    Bortle
    2
  • Wellstead, Western Australia
    Direction
    ENE
    Distance (km)
    85
    SQM
    21.93
    Bortle
    2
  • Lake Muir, Western Australia
    Direction
    WNW
    Distance (km)
    125.9
    SQM
    21.80
    Bortle
    2

Dark skies are close to hand from Albany rather than far away. The nearest very strong improvement is about 10 kilometres to the south-south-east at Frenchman Bay, Western Australia, where the sky is already dark enough for a very different observing experience.

If you want to push farther, around 30 kilometres east-north-east to Manypeaks, Western Australia, takes you into even darker country. In practice, Albany is the sort of place where a short drive makes a big difference.

  • Within 10 km
    Place
    Pending reverse geocode
    Direction
    SSE
    Distance (km)
    8.1
    SQM
    21.36
    Bortle
    3
  • Within 25 km
    Place
    Pending reverse geocode
    Direction
    WSW
    Distance (km)
    22.3
    SQM
    21.48
    Bortle
    3
  • Within 50 km
    Place
    Pending reverse geocode
    Direction
    ENE
    Distance (km)
    28.5
    SQM
    21.72
    Bortle
    2
  • Within 100 km
    Place
    Pending reverse geocode
    Direction
    ENE
    Distance (km)
    85
    SQM
    21.93
    Bortle
    2
  • Within 200 km
    Place
    Pending reverse geocode
    Direction
    WNW
    Distance (km)
    125.9
    SQM
    21.80
    Bortle
    2
  • Within 500 km
    Place
    Pending reverse geocode
    Direction
    ENE
    Distance (km)
    298.1
    SQM
    21.88
    Bortle
    2

How Albany’s sky has changed over time

The long-term picture is fairly steady. The measured SQM shifts from 19.44 in the earliest record to 19.47 in the latest one, which suggests little overall change in the brightness of the sky from Albany itself.

Across the full run of datasets, the average sits at 19.8, with the darkest reading reaching 22 and the brightest at 19.44. The underlying trend slope is slightly negative at -0.0061 SQM per year, pointing to a very gentle brightening over time, but the change is small enough that most observers would think of Albany’s town sky as broadly stable rather than dramatically worsening.

From Albany itself, the most rewarding targets are the bright, high-contrast ones. The Moon, planets, double stars and the showier clusters cope well with the town sky, and a few bright deep-sky objects are still possible if transparency is good and you know exactly where to look.

What suffers most is low-contrast detail. Faint galaxies, extended nebulae, dark dust lanes and the broader structure of the Milky Way all improve enormously once you leave town, which is particularly helpful here because a dark site is only a short drive away.

  • Moon
  • planets
  • double stars
  • bright open clusters
  • the brightest globular clusters
  • Orion Nebula
  • Eta Carinae Nebula
  • bright planetary nebulae
  • the brightest galaxies under transparent skies
  • Milky Way star clouds
  • faint galaxies
  • broadband nebulae
  • dark nebulae
  • meteor showers

Can you see stars from Albany?

Yes. From Albany you can easily see the brighter stars and the main constellation patterns, but the town sky is bright enough to hide a lot of the fainter background stars.

Can you see the Milky Way from Albany?

Sometimes, but it is not shown at its best from town. With Albany’s Bortle Class 7 sky and SQM of 19.47, the Milky Way is usually faint or patchy rather than bold, and it improves dramatically once you get outside the built-up area.

What Bortle class is Albany?

Albany is Bortle Class 7 at the measured location, which is a suburban-urban transition sky.

What is the SQM in Albany?

The measured sky brightness is 19.47 SQM.

Where are the nearest dark skies to Albany?

The nearest dark skies are very close, with Frenchman Bay, Western Australia about 8.1 kilometres to the south-south-east reaching Bortle 3 conditions. There are even darker Bortle 2 skies farther out towards Manypeaks, Western Australia at 28.5 kilometres east-north-east.

Is Albany good for astrophotography?

It is workable for lunar, planetary and brighter deep-sky astrophotography from town, especially for compact targets. For wide-field Milky Way work, faint nebulae and cleaner background skies, you will get much better results after a short drive out of Albany.

How far do you need to drive from Albany for darker skies?

You only need a short drive. Around 10 kilometres is enough to reach genuinely dark Bortle 3 sky, and around 30 kilometres east-north-east takes you to even darker Bortle 2 conditions near Manypeaks, Western Australia.