Port-au-Prince Stargazing & Astronomy Report

Light pollution and stargazing locations near Port-au-Prince

City
Port-au-Prince
Country
Haiti
Latitude
18.5944
Longitude
-72.3074

Key Sky Quality Metrics

SQM (mag/arcsec²)
20.33
Bortle class
Class 5 (Class 5)
Darkness Quotient
54%
Dataset
April 2026

Suburban sky

Port-au-Prince: The Practical Verdict

Port-au-Prince, the capital city of Haiti, faces moderate light pollution, typical for such a populous urban area. While the overall sky quality is compromised, it remains usable for casual stargazing or observing brighter astronomical targets.

Under this sky, the Moon, planets, double stars, and brighter globular clusters are accessible and rewarding to observe. However, the Milky Way is generally faint or conditional, and deep-sky targets with lower surface brightness are often diminished by the city's light dome, particularly towards the south-west horizon.

For serious astronomy, a darker site like 4e Grand Lagon—a Bortle Class 2 location located around a two-hour drive west-north-west—is highly recommended. This upgrade offers substantially improved conditions for deep-sky imaging and unaided visual observing.

At a Glance

Overall
Compromised but usable - This is a compromised but usable sky. Bright deep-sky objects and some imaging are possible, but contrast is noticeably reduced.
Milky Way
Weak or conditional - The Milky Way is usually weak from this sky and may only appear as a faint suggestion under good conditions.
Best targets from here
Moon, planets, double stars, bright open clusters, globular clusters, narrowband nebulae
Do not prioritise
faint galaxies, reflection nebulae, low surface-brightness nebulae, serious Milky Way photography
Best nearby upgrade
4e Grand Lagon, West sits about 80 km west north west and reaches Bortle 2, roughly 4.1x darker.
Good dark window
Port-au-Prince retains astronomical darkness throughout the year, so seasonality is less extreme than at higher latitudes. The main limitation is light pollution, not the length of the dark window.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can you see the Milky Way from Port-au-Prince?

Conditionally. From Port-au-Prince the Milky Way may show as a faint suggestion under transparent, moonless conditions, but it lacks dark-site contrast.

What Bortle class is Port-au-Prince?

Port-au-Prince is Bortle Class 5 (SQM 20.33), a compromised but usable for astronomy.

Is Port-au-Prince good for stargazing?

Partly. Port-au-Prince offers a compromised but usable where many bright targets remain accessible, but the faintest deep-sky work is compromised.

Is Port-au-Prince good for astrophotography?

Broadband deep-sky imaging is heavily compromised from Port-au-Prince and a Bortle 4 or darker site is strongly recommended. Narrowband imaging of bright emission nebulae remains viable from Port-au-Prince with appropriate Ha or OIII filters.

What can you observe from Port-au-Prince?

Primary targets from Port-au-Prince include Moon, planets, double stars, bright open clusters, globular clusters. Targets such as faint galaxies, reflection nebulae, low surface-brightness nebulae are not realistic from this sky.

Where are darker skies near Port-au-Prince?

The closest meaningfully darker mapped site is Nan Zaboca, West, about 26 km south of Port-au-Prince, reaching Bortle 3.

When is the sky darkest in Port-au-Prince?

The sky over Port-au-Prince is darkest around January, December.

Is light pollution in Port-au-Prince getting better or worse?

Long-term light pollution over Port-au-Prince has been broadly stable across the available measurements.

north - excellent

Clean, fully dark horizon to the north. Star counts remain high right down to the ground.

north-north-east - excellent

No artificial glow on the north-north-east horizon. Faint deep-sky objects in this direction are accessible at low elevation.

north-east - excellent

The north-east horizon is fully dark. Faint stars are visible to within a few degrees of the ground and the Milky Way reaches the horizon on clear nights.

east-north-east - excellent

The east-north-east horizon is dark to the unaided eye. Faint stars are visible at the lowest elevations.

east - excellent

Clean, fully dark horizon to the east. Star counts remain high right down to the ground.

east-south-east - excellent

Dark sky to the east-south-east horizon. The Milky Way can be traced to the ground in this direction.

south-east - excellent

The south-east horizon is dark to the unaided eye. Faint stars are visible at the lowest elevations.

south-south-east - excellent

The south-south-east horizon is dark to the unaided eye. Faint stars are visible at the lowest elevations.

south - excellent

The south horizon is dark to the unaided eye. Faint stars are visible at the lowest elevations.

south-south-west - excellent

No artificial glow on the south-south-west horizon. Faint deep-sky objects in this direction are accessible at low elevation.

south-west - excellent

No artificial glow on the south-west horizon. Faint deep-sky objects in this direction are accessible at low elevation.

west-south-west - excellent

Clean, fully dark horizon to the west-south-west. Star counts remain high right down to the ground.

west - excellent

The west horizon is dark to the unaided eye. Faint stars are visible at the lowest elevations.

west-north-west - excellent

No artificial glow on the west-north-west horizon. Faint deep-sky objects in this direction are accessible at low elevation.

north-west - excellent

Dark sky to the north-west horizon. The Milky Way can be traced to the ground in this direction.

north-north-west - excellent

The north-north-west horizon is fully dark. Faint stars are visible to within a few degrees of the ground and the Milky Way reaches the horizon on clear nights.

zenith - good

The zenith sky is reasonably dark. The Milky Way is detectable as a diffuse band on the best nights.

  • Nan Zaboca, West
    Direction
    S
    Distance (km)
    26
    SQM
    21.48
    Bortle
    3
  • 4e La Gosseline, South-East
    Direction
    SSW
    Distance (km)
    26.3
    SQM
    21.48
    Bortle
    3
  • La CrĂŞte, West
    Direction
    SW
    Distance (km)
    42.6
    SQM
    21.66
    Bortle
    3
  • 4e Grand Lagon, West
    Direction
    WNW
    Distance (km)
    80.4
    SQM
    21.86
    Bortle
    2
  • 4e Aguahedionde, Centre Department
    Direction
    NNE
    Distance (km)
    69.7
    SQM
    21.51
    Bortle
    3
  • 2e-Bois-D'orme, South-East
    Direction
    ESE
    Distance (km)
    68.2
    SQM
    21.39
    Bortle
    3