What Star Ninja is

Star Ninja is a free web map for planning a night of stargazing. It shows how dark the sky is at any spot on Earth, what the cloud forecast looks like for the next few nights, and when the moon is out of the way.

There's no account, no signup, and nothing to install. Open the map and start clicking.

What it answers

• How dark is this spot? A measured darkness band, from very dark sky down to heavily light-polluted, colored on the map.
• How far is it from where I'm starting? A straight-line distance and an approximate drive figure from a start point you set.
• Which of the next nights are clear? A short-range cloud forecast for any spot you click.
• When is the moon out of the way? The nightly window when the moon is down or dim enough not to wash out a dark sky.

Where the data comes from

• Darkness — VIIRS/VNL upward radiance, a 2025 annual satellite composite from the Earth Observation Group at the Colorado School of Mines (CC BY 4.0). This is a yearly average, not a live reading.
• Cloud forecast — MET Norway (CC BY 4.0).
• Place search — OpenStreetMap / Nominatim.
• Map tiles — OpenFreeMap, OpenMapTiles, and OpenStreetMap data.
• Sun and moon positions — Astronomy Engine by Don Cross (MIT license).

What it doesn't do

Star Ninja doesn't search for the nearest dark sky for you. You set a start point, click spots yourself, and compare what the map shows. There's no routing — the distance is a straight line, and the drive figure assumes a flat average speed, not real roads or traffic.

The darkness bands are an approximate scale, not a Bortle class or an SQM reading. The darkness data is a yearly satellite average, not tonight's sky. There are no ratings, no reviews, no saved locations, no alerts, and no mobile app — just the map.

Who it's for

Amateur astronomers, stargazers, and astrophotographers anywhere in the world, in English.

How to use it

1. Open the map.
2. Set a start point — usually where you live.
3. Click any spot to see its darkness band, distance, forecast, and moon window.
4. Compare a few spots in different directions before you decide where to go.

For a full walkthrough of the map's panel, see how to read the dark-sky map.