New Zealand · stargazing
Stargazing in Wellington
How dark Wellington's sky really is, which way to head to escape it, and a live seven-night forecast — scored honestly from cloud, moon and light pollution.
What you can actually see from Wellington
The sky over the city centre sits at about Bortle 6(19.01 mag/arcsec², 2024 atlas) — an approximation from modelled zenith brightness, not a field measurement (what each level means).
Wellington's sky is bright suburban: the Milky Way is washed out or only faintly visible overhead on the very best nights. The Moon, planets, double stars and brighter clusters are all rewarding from home, but faint deep-sky objects and a good meteor count still mean a drive out.
Wellington is tied for 34th of 52 cities for clear nights: 43% of its nights with astronomical darkness stayed clear in 2021–2025 (ERA5 reanalysis) — historical frequency, not a forecast.
Which way to escape the glow
The fastest way out of Wellington's light dome is to head east. In that direction the atlas shows the sky darkening to around Bortle 4 — dark enough for the Milky Way — within roughly 10 km of the centre. That's also the way toward Wairarapa Dark Sky Reserve, the nearest certified dark-sky place (48.9 km out).
Directions and distances are sampled from the light-pollution atlas as the crow flies — real roads, terrain and a clear horizon still matter, so treat this as where to point the car, not a turn-by-turn route.
The next seven nights in Wellington
Loading the live forecast…
Dark-sky sites nearest Wellington
The closest DarkSky International certified places worth the drive, with their direction and straight-line distance from Wellington.
- Wairarapa Dark Sky Reserve
reserve · east · 48.9 km · Bortle ≈ 2 · official page
- Wai-Iti
park · west · 150 km · Bortle ≈ 3 · official page
- Kaikōura
sanctuary · south-west · 153.2 km · Bortle ≈ 4 · official page
This pin is Kaikōura town, so the Bortle shown is the town's. The sanctuary covers about 2,000 km² and its Dark Sky Trust lists 13 public viewing sites; those 8+ km from town read Bortle 1–2 on the same atlas.
The Leonid meteor shower from Wellington: 17–18 November 2026
The Leonids — up to ~15 meteors an hour under ideal dark skies (IMO) — peak overnight on 17–18 November 2026. Moon about 55% illuminated at the peak, half a day after first quarter (Stellarhound Skyfield calculation; the IMO calendar only notes the Moon is near first quarter) — it sets between about 11:30 p.m. and 1:30 a.m. in the northern cities we checked, leaving the pre-dawn hours moonless. From Wellington the radiant (declination +22°) climbs to about 27° above the northern horizon, still climbing as dawn arrives, so the pre-dawn hours are best.
A radiant this low costs rates: the headline ZHR assumes the radiant overhead, and at 27° the geometry alone trims the count to roughly 45% of that figure.
From Wellington's Bortle 6 suburban sky you can catch the brighter Leonids while the Moon is low or down, and a short drive to darker sky recovers the fainter meteors.
For scored peak-night conditions — cloud through the dark hours at your exact spot — open the Leonids 2026 live viewing forecast once the night comes within the 16-night horizon (from 3 November).
The Geminid meteor shower from Wellington: 13–14 December 2026
The Geminids — up to ~150 meteors an hour under ideal dark skies (IMO) — peak overnight on 13–14 December 2026. New Moon on 9 Dec — a ~21% waxing crescent sets during the evening of the peak, leaving the main hours dark. From Wellington the radiant (declination +33°) climbs to about 16° above the northern horizon, highest in the small hours after midnight.
A radiant this low costs rates: the headline ZHR assumes the radiant overhead, and at 16° the geometry alone trims the count to roughly 27% of that figure.
From Wellington's Bortle 6 sky you'll catch the brighter meteors, but most of the shower — the faint majority — only shows from darker sky. The sites above are worth the drive on this night more than almost any other.
For scored peak-night conditions — cloud through the dark hours at your exact spot — open the Geminids 2026 live viewing forecast once the night comes within the 16-night horizon (from 29 November).
Plan the next 90 days from Wellington
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 observations can say is how often each month's nights actually stayed clear here. Both are below — read them for what they are.
- Nov 2–1413 moon-free nights44% of November nights here stayed clear (2021–2025)
- Dec 2–1514 moon-free nights39% of December nights here stayed clear (2021–2025)
- Jan 2–1514 moon-free nights54% of January nights here stayed clear (2021–2025)
Clearest months in Wellington historically: February (55%), January (54%), April (47%).
Clear-night odds are ERA5 reanalysis statistics for 2021–2025 (CC BY 4.0) — historical frequency, not a forecast. Once a window comes within 16 nights, the live forecast above takes over with real cloud data.
Put Wellington's dark-sky nights on your calendar
Every month has a stretch of nights when the Moon leaves Wellington's dark hours 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
Light pollution: David Lorenz, World Atlas 2024 (EOG VIIRS, CC BY 4.0), approximate. Cloud: Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0). Dark-sky places: DarkSky International. Coordinates used are the city's public centre, not any personal location.