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Stora Dimun houses view to Litla Dimun

Faroe Islands Faroe Islands island

Lítla Dímun

Bortle 1: excellent dark sky. Tonight's real sky above it, live.

Calculating the sky…

Drag to turn round. Stars from the HYG catalogue; glow and horizon from the light model and the terrain.

The usual sky here

Bortle 1.

The zodiacal light and the gegenschein are visible; the Milky Way casts shadows; your own hand is hard to see.

75out of 100

Our own rating, from verifiable data only: sky brightness (60 points), clear nights (25), open horizon (10) and altitude (5).

  1. 1Excellent dark sky≥ 21.89 · stars to mag 7.6 You are here
  2. 2Truly dark sky21.69–21.89 · stars to mag 7.1
  3. 3Rural sky21.25–21.69 · stars to mag 6.6
  4. 4Rural–suburban transition20.49–21.25 · stars to mag 6.1
  5. 5Suburban sky19.50–20.49 · stars to mag 5.6
  6. 6Bright suburban sky18.94–19.50 · stars to mag 5.1
  7. 7Suburban–urban transition18.38–18.94 · stars to mag 4.6
  8. 8City sky17.80–18.38 · stars to mag 4.1
  9. 9Inner-city sky< 17.80 · stars to mag 3.6
  • 21.90Sky brightnessmag/arcsec² at the zenith — 21.9 is a natural sky
  • 6.6Faintest starthe faintest magnitude the naked eye can see here
  • 563 kmNearest big townover 50,000 people, in a straight line
  • 391 mAltitudeabove the sea: less air and haze above you
  • 100%Open skyof the half-sphere the relief leaves visible

Where the light comes from

No town lights up this horizon: the sky is dark in every direction.

An estimate of the usual sky with no Moon and no clouds, from NASA's night-lights map and a light-propagation model (about ±0.3 mag). A given night depends on the Moon, the clouds, dust and humidity.

When to go

Best in November.

Hours of truly dark night, hours with the core of the Milky Way up, how often the sky is clear and the coldest night, month by month.

  1. 12h13%3°Jan
  2. 10h15%2°Feb
  3. 7.2h15%2°Mar
  4. 1.2h18%4°Apr
  5. 0h18%4°May
  6. 0h13%6°Jun
  7. 0h12%8°Jul
  8. 0h16%8°Aug
  9. 5.7h17%8°Sep
  10. 9.0h18%6°Oct
  11. 12h17%4°Nov
  12. 13h13%3°Dec
  • Dark night (hours)
  • Milky Way core up
  • Clear sky
  • Coldest night
  • Best months

The Moon, night by night

A bright Moon washes out the faint stars. The highlighted nights are the dark ones (less than a quarter lit); below, the next new moons.

  • 9 Nov2026
  • 9 Dec2026
  • 7 Jan2027
  • 6 Feb2027
  • 8 Mar2027
  • 6 Apr2027

Night: Sun more than 18° below the horizon. Milky Way: the galactic centre more than 10° up during that night. Clear sky: 100 − NASA cloud amount (2001–2020). Coldest: average minimum brought to this altitude.

What happens in this sky

Meteors, eclipses, auroras.

Meteor showers

The next twelve months. The rate is what a dark sky shows with the radiant at its highest here; the Moon decides the rest.

  • Orionidspeak 21 Oct 2026 · up to 14 meteors an hourMoon 73% lit at the peak
  • Leonidspeak 17 Nov 2026 · up to 12 meteors an hourMoon 46% lit at the peak
  • Geminidspeak 14 Dec 2026 · up to 132 meteors an hourMoon 21% lit at the peak
  • Quadrantidspeak 4 Jan 2027 · up to 107 meteors an hourMoon 12% lit at the peak
  • Lyridspeak 22 Apr 2027 · up to 16 meteors an hourMoon 98% lit at the peak
  • Eta Aquariidspeak 6 May 2027 · up to 23 meteors an hourMoon 0% lit at the peak
  • Perseidspeak 12 Aug 2027 · up to 100 meteors an hourMoon 78% lit at the peak

Eclipses

Lunar eclipses visible from here, and solar eclipses whose path crosses this country.

  • Partial lunar eclipse12 january 2028Moon 36° up at mid-eclipse · 53 min
  • Total lunar eclipse31 december 2028Moon 9° up at mid-eclipse · 71 min
  • Total lunar eclipse20 december 2029Moon 47° up at mid-eclipse · 53 min
  • Total lunar eclipse18 october 2032Moon 16° up at mid-eclipse · 46 min

Auroras

You are under the auroral oval (geomagnetic latitude 64°): auroras show on most clear dark nights. Dark months: from September to March.

  1. 0quiet
  2. 1
  3. 2
  4. 3active
  5. 4
  6. 5storm
  7. 6
  8. 7strong
  9. 8
  10. 9extreme
Kp 0.4 reaches here

Estimate from the geomagnetic latitude (dipole model) and NOAA's oval boundaries. Watch the live Kp forecast before going out.

Meteor dates: International Meteor Organization peaks. Lunar eclipses: computed (J. Meeus) and shown only when the Moon is above this horizon. Solar eclipses: Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA/GSFC (country on the path).

The place

Lítla Dímun.

Island

Lítla Dímun is an island in Faroe Islands, 391 m above the sea.

Its usual sky, with no Moon or clouds, is estimated at 21.90 mag/arcsec² — Bortle 1, excellent dark sky: the naked eye reaches stars of magnitude 6.6.

The nearest town of over 50,000 people is 563 km away.

The best months are in November: long dark nights and clearer skies.

From here the core of the Milky Way never rises above the horizon.

Auroras are frequent: this is auroral-oval country.

The horizon is open all round: nothing in the relief rises more than 3°.

Stora Dimun houses view to Litla Dimun
EileenSanda · CC BY-SA 4.0

Visit and sleep under the stars

Plan the night

A guided night, a bed nearby, a car.

Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.

The horizon

360° around you.

The silhouette of the relief up to 30 km away (Copernicus DEM), with the light domes of the towns where they rise. Mountains are drawn taller than they are, to be seen.

NNEESESSWWNW
NNEESESSSWWNW
Lítla Dímun seen from above (Sentinel-2)
Seen from above: Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 6 × 6 km, north up. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Around, in OpenStreetMap

  • 1named peaks within 5 kmRávan
  • 3shelters and huts within 5 km
  • 2campsites within 10 kmCamping Trongisvágur
  • 7places to stay within 10 kmHotel Tvøroyri, Gistingarhúsið í Miðbrekkuni, Gistingarhúsið Undir Heygnum and 4 more
  • observatories and planetariums within 30 km
  • viewpoints within 5 km
  • marked trails within 3 km
  • car parks within 3 km
  • visitor centres within 5 km
  • restaurants and cafés within 5 km
  • street lamps mapped within 2 km

Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit. A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet.

In our other atlases

Around it, by day.

The mountain, island, lake, beach or canyon this place is, and what else is nearby in the family's atlases.

Peakyas23 mountains within 25 km
Rávan414 m · this placeGluggarnir610 m · 13 kmEystanfyri Herðablaðið605 m · 14 kmBorgin570 m · 16 kmBorgarknappur574 m · 16 kmKnúkur393 m · 17 kmGlopprók535 m · 17 kmBeinisvørð469 m · 23 km

Figures from the sister sites' databases (Wikidata, HydroATLAS, GeoNames, OpenStreetMap). Links open when each site is online.

Photographs

By day and by night.

Lítla Dímun 2019
kallerna · CC BY-SA 4.0
Suðuroy.Lítla Dímun,1
Erik Christensen · CC BY 3.0
Dimunarnar
Erik Fløan · Public domain

Other skies nearby.

Lítla Dímun

Faroe Islands

  • 75Darkskyas Score
  • 21.90Sky brightness
  • 1Bortle
  • 391 mAltitude

Stóra Dímun

Faroe Islands · 7 km

  • 74Darkskyas Score
  • 21.90Sky brightness
  • 1Bortle
  • 316 mAltitude

See the guide

Suðuroy

Faroe Islands · 13 km

  • 74Darkskyas Score
  • 21.90Sky brightness
  • 1Bortle
  • 610 mAltitude

See the guide

Skúvoy

Faroe Islands · 16 km

  • 73Darkskyas Score
  • 21.90Sky brightness
  • 1Bortle
  • 150 mAltitude

See the guide

Where these figures come from

Name, type, certificationWikidata (Q206928) · CC0
Sky brightnessNASA Earth Observatory, Black Marble 2016 (Suomi NPP VIIRS) · Darkskyas light model (Walker's law, fitted to 18 measured sites)
Night, Moon, Milky Way, starsJ. Meeus, Astronomical Algorithms · HYG v4.4 · Stellarium modern_iau (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Horizon and altitudeCopernicus DEM GLO-90 / GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA
Clouds and temperatureNASA POWER (CERES SYN1deg, 2001–2020; MERRA-2)
Solar eclipsesEclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA/GSFC
What is around© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
ImagesEOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
Sister atlasesPeakyas, Islandyas

Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.

The family

Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers, canyons, caves, dark skies, viewpoints, birdwatching or forests?

Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, in seven languages.

beachesCoastyaFind your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit lakesLakeyasEvery lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Visit mountainsPeakyasEvery summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit waterfallsCascadyasEvery waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Visit islandsIslandyasEvery island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Visit riversRiveryasEvery river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.Visit canyonsCanyonyasEvery canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Visit cavesCavernyasEvery cave with its real depth and length: the rock above, the temperature inside all year, and how to visit.Visit
dark skiesDarkskyasWhere the night is still dark: the sky of every place, the Milky Way month by month, the Moon, eclipses and auroras.You are here
viewpointsViewyasEvery viewpoint with its real 360° panorama: the peaks you can name, how far you see and where the sun sets.Coming soonVisit
birdwatchingBirdyasEvery bird sanctuary and wetland with the species recorded month by month: who is resident, who comes for the summer, who only passes through.Coming soonVisit
forestsForestyaEvery forest with its land-cover rings, what grows and lives in it, and the best months to walk it.Coming soonVisit