About this place
- Overview
- World-class Southern Hemisphere site beneath Mount Cook
- Horizon
- Southern Alps to the west; open skies to the east and south
- Region
- NZ
- Nearest city
- ~120 km of light pollution
Certified dark-sky park
Aoraki Mackenzie International Dark Sky Reserve
NZ · Truly dark skies
Designation & sky
- Type
- Dark-Sky Park
- Designation
- IDA Dark Sky Sanctuary
- Sky quality
- Bortle 2.0 (measured) · Truly dark
- Measured brightness
- 21.7 mag/arcsec² · Aoraki Mackenzie IDSR application Table 7-1: Mt John primary core average 21.67 mag/arcsec^2, rounded to 0.1
Official links
Verify hours, access, and current conditions before you go.
Dark-sky stays near here
Book a night under these skies — the closest astronomy-forward stays in the Stella catalog.
- 1 km · Observatory AdjacentLake Tekapo LodgesView stay →
- 25 km · Observatory StayMt Cook Lakeside Retreat / Pukaki ObservatoryView stay →
- 27 km · Telescope ProgramLakestone LodgeView stay →
- 39 km · Dark-Sky LodgeTe Manahuna RetreatView stay →
On the map
More dark-sky places
Keep exploring protected skies like this one.
- Dark-Sky Park · NZ · Bortle 1Lake Tekapo (Aoraki Mackenzie)View →
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- Dark-Sky Park · Australia · Bortle 1.3Warrumbungle Dark Sky ParkView →
- Dark-Sky Park · AU · Bortle 1.3Warrumbungle National ParkView →