Light Pollution Map Screensaver
The Light Pollution Map screensaver shades a world map by real, published night-sky brightness zones, from the bright glow of major cities to the last dark places left on Earth. It's free, runs in your browser, and ESC exits.
How the Light Pollution Map screensaver works
The map is shaded using real, published night-sky brightness zone data covering the whole world.
Brighter zones mark cities and dense urban regions; the darkest zones mark the world's remaining truly dark skies.
An optional layer labels a few major cities for orientation.
The glow slowly breathes to keep the display alive without implying live data.
A worked example
Zoom your attention to Western Europe and the glow is nearly continuous, while regions like the Sahara or central Australia stay a deep, genuine dark — real published sky-brightness patterns.
Settings & tips
- Major cities toggles the reference city labels.
- Accent recolours the brightness gradient.
- Brightness zones are real published reference data, not a live satellite feed.
Frequently asked questions
- Is this live satellite data?
- No — it's a real, published reference dataset of night-sky brightness; artificial light doesn't change fast enough to need a live feed.
- Where are the darkest skies left?
- Real dark-sky regions include parts of the Australian outback, the Sahara, northern Canada and the open oceans.
- Is a key needed?
- No — it's a static, real-geography visualization with no live data fetch.
- Is it free?
- Yes — free, no download, in your browser.