Australia · International Dark Sky Sanctuary
Stargazing at The Jump-Up
How dark this certified sky really is, how far it is from the nearest cities, a live seven-night forecast for the site itself, and the moon-free nights worth planning around. Official DarkSky International page ↗
How dark the sky really is at The Jump-Up
Modelled zenith brightness at the site's coordinates is 21.99 mag/arcsec², which maps to roughly Bortle 1 (what each level means). This is an approximation from the 2024 light-pollution atlas, not a field measurement — and it describes the single point DarkSky lists, not the darkest corner of the sanctuary.
This is about as dark as the atlas gets: at Bortle 1 the Milky Way casts visible shadows on moonless nights, the zodiacal light is obvious and the faintest deep-sky objects are within reach of modest optics. Your own light — and the Moon — will be the limiting factor, not the site.
Getting to The Jump-Up
None of the 52 cities we publish guides for lies within 700 km of The Jump-Up, so no drive estimate is shown. The site's coordinates (-22.47938, 143.1833) come from the DarkSky International place finder.
The next seven nights at The Jump-Up
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Plan the next 90 days at The Jump-Up
Moon-free dark windows are astronomy — computable years ahead. Cloud is not: beyond the 16-night forecast nobody knows the weather, and we won't pretend to. What five years of reanalysis can say is how often each month's nights actually stayed clear here.
- Nov 2–1514 moon-free nights71% of November nights here stayed clear (2021–2025)
- Dec 2–1514 moon-free nights77% of December nights here stayed clear (2021–2025)
- Jan 1–1414 moon-free nights65% of January nights here stayed clear (2021–2025)
Clear nights by month, 2021–2025
- Jan65%
- Feb65%
- Mar72%
- Apr89%
- May89%
- Jun89%
- Jul90%
- Aug97%
- Sep94%
- Oct88%
- Nov71%
- Dec77%
Clearest months historically: August (97%), September (94%), July (90%); across the year 82% of nights with astronomical darkness stayed clear.
"Clear" = weighted cloud cover (low 0.5 / mid 0.3 / high 0.2) ≤ 20% across the night's astronomical darkness. ERA5 reanalysis via Open-Meteo Archive, 2021–2025 (CC BY 4.0) — historical frequency, not a forecast. Once a window comes within 16 nights, the live forecast above takes over.
Put The Jump-Up's dark-sky nights on your calendar
Every month has a stretch of nights when the Moon leaves the dark hours at The Jump-Up essentially moon-free. Subscribe once and each window lands in your own calendar, about a year ahead — no account, no email.
moon & darkness geometry only — cloud can't be known this far out; check the live forecast above when a window gets close
Questions people ask about The Jump-Up
- How dark is the sky at The Jump-Up?
- Modelled zenith brightness from the 2024 World Atlas of Artificial Night Sky Brightness puts The Jump-Up at about 21.99 mag/arcsec², roughly Bortle class 1. That is an approximation derived from satellite data, not a field measurement; it is certified by DarkSky International as an International Dark Sky Sanctuary.
- When is the next moon-free dark window at The Jump-Up?
- The next stretch of essentially moon-free dark hours runs Nov 2–15 (14 nights), computed from Moon phase and altitude with Skyfield and JPL DE440s. Cloud cannot be known that far ahead; the live seven-night forecast on this page shows real cloud cover once a window is close.
- What is the clearest month at The Jump-Up?
- Over 2021–2025, August (97%), September (94%), July (90%) had the highest share of nights with astronomical darkness that stayed clear (weighted cloud cover ≤ 20%); across the year it was 82%. ERA5 reanalysis via Open-Meteo — historical frequency, not a forecast.
Place name and coordinates: DarkSky International (reviewed 2026-07-15, data 2026-10-13). Light pollution: David Lorenz, World Atlas 2024 (EOG VIIRS, CC BY 4.0), approximate. Cloud: Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0). Moon and darkness geometry: Skyfield + JPL DE440s, computed locally. Drive times are estimates, not routes.