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Bulusan Seismic Network

Philippines Philippines mountain

Mount Bulusan

Bortle 2: truly dark sky. Tonight's real sky above it, live.

Calculating the sky…

Drag to turn round. Stars from the HYG catalogue; glow and horizon from the light model and the terrain.

The usual sky here

Bortle 2.

The Milky Way is detailed to the horizon, with its dark lanes; clouds are black holes in the starfield.

82out of 100

Our own rating, from verifiable data only: sky brightness (60 points), clear nights (25), open horizon (10) and altitude (5).

  1. 1Excellent dark sky≥ 21.89 · stars to mag 7.6
  2. 2Truly dark sky21.69–21.89 · stars to mag 7.1 You are here
  3. 3Rural sky21.25–21.69 · stars to mag 6.6
  4. 4Rural–suburban transition20.49–21.25 · stars to mag 6.1
  5. 5Suburban sky19.50–20.49 · stars to mag 5.6
  6. 6Bright suburban sky18.94–19.50 · stars to mag 5.1
  7. 7Suburban–urban transition18.38–18.94 · stars to mag 4.6
  8. 8City sky17.80–18.38 · stars to mag 4.1
  9. 9Inner-city sky< 17.80 · stars to mag 3.6
  • 21.88Sky brightnessmag/arcsec² at the zenith — 21.9 is a natural sky
  • 6.6Faintest starthe faintest magnitude the naked eye can see here
  • 19 kmNearest big townover 50,000 people, in a straight line
  • 1,565 mAltitudeabove the sea: less air and haze above you
  • 91%Open skyof the half-sphere the relief leaves visible

Where the light comes from

The brightest glow on the horizon comes from Legaspi, 53 km to the north-west.

Each wedge is how much artificial light arrives from that direction (10° slices).

NESWLegaspi 53 kmCebu City 273 kmBacolod City 263 kmSan Pablo 328 km

An estimate of the usual sky with no Moon and no clouds, from NASA's night-lights map and a light-propagation model (about ±0.3 mag). A given night depends on the Moon, the clouds, dust and humidity.

When to go

Best in April.

Hours of truly dark night, hours with the core of the Milky Way up, how often the sky is clear and the coldest night, month by month.

  1. 10h30%13°Jan
  2. 10h43%13°Feb
  3. 9.5h49%13°Mar
  4. 9.2h58%14°Apr
  5. 8.7h43%16°May
  6. 8.5h30%16°Jun
  7. 8.7h17%16°Jul
  8. 9.0h18%16°Aug
  9. 9.3h20%15°Sep
  10. 9.7h27%15°Oct
  11. 10h34%15°Nov
  12. 10h30%14°Dec
  • Dark night (hours)
  • Milky Way core up
  • Clear sky
  • Coldest night
  • Best months

The Moon, night by night

A bright Moon washes out the faint stars. The highlighted nights are the dark ones (less than a quarter lit); below, the next new moons.

  • 9 Nov2026
  • 9 Dec2026
  • 7 Jan2027
  • 6 Feb2027
  • 8 Mar2027
  • 6 Apr2027

Night: Sun more than 18° below the horizon. Milky Way: the galactic centre more than 10° up during that night. Clear sky: 100 − NASA cloud amount (2001–2020). Coldest: average minimum brought to this altitude.

What happens in this sky

Meteors, eclipses, auroras.

Meteor showers

The next twelve months. The rate is what a dark sky shows with the radiant at its highest here; the Moon decides the rest.

  • Orionidspeak 21 Oct 2026 · up to 20 meteors an hourMoon 69% lit at the peak
  • Leonidspeak 17 Nov 2026 · up to 15 meteors an hourMoon 43% lit at the peak
  • Geminidspeak 14 Dec 2026 · up to 141 meteors an hourMoon 19% lit at the peak
  • Quadrantidspeak 4 Jan 2027 · up to 89 meteors an hourMoon 14% lit at the peak
  • Lyridspeak 22 Apr 2027 · up to 17 meteors an hourMoon 99% lit at the peak
  • Eta Aquariidspeak 6 May 2027 · up to 49 meteors an hourMoon 1% lit at the peak
  • Southern Delta Aquariidspeak 30 Jul 2027 · up to 22 meteors an hourMoon 19% lit at the peak
  • Perseidspeak 12 Aug 2027 · up to 70 meteors an hourMoon 75% lit at the peak

Eclipses

Lunar eclipses visible from here, and solar eclipses whose path crosses this country.

  • Partial lunar eclipse6 july 2028Moon 38° up at mid-eclipse · 140 min
  • Total lunar eclipse31 december 2028Moon 72° up at mid-eclipse · 71 min
  • Partial lunar eclipse15 june 2030Moon 35° up at mid-eclipse · 143 min
  • Total lunar eclipse25 april 2032Moon 63° up at mid-eclipse · 66 min

Meteor dates: International Meteor Organization peaks. Lunar eclipses: computed (J. Meeus) and shown only when the Moon is above this horizon. Solar eclipses: Eclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA/GSFC (country on the path).

The place

Mount Bulusan.

Active volcano in the Philippines

Mount Bulusan is a mountain in Philippines, 1,565 m above the sea.

Its usual sky, with no Moon or clouds, is estimated at 21.88 mag/arcsec² — Bortle 2, truly dark sky: the naked eye reaches stars of magnitude 6.6.

The nearest town of over 50,000 people is 19 km away.

The best months are in April: long dark nights and clearer skies.

The core of the Milky Way rises up to 48° above the horizon, and is up during the dark hours from March to October.

The relief hides 9% of the sky; the highest point of the horizon is 22° up, to the east.

Bulusan Seismic Network
Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology · Public domain

Visit and sleep under the stars

  • Lake Aguingay Campsitecampsite · 2.3 km · 1 within 10 km
  • Ranger Station Hutplace to stay · 2.3 km · 5 within 10 km
  • San Roquenearest town · 5.0 km in a straight line
  • Bicol International Airport (DRP)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 56 km in a straight lineCar hire in AlbayDiscover Cars · sponsored link

Plan the night

A guided night, a bed nearby, a car.

Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.

The horizon

360° around you.

The silhouette of the relief up to 30 km away (Copernicus DEM), with the light domes of the towns where they rise. Mountains are drawn taller than they are, to be seen.

NNEESESSWWNWLegaspi · 53 kmCebu City · 273 kmBacolod City · 263 kmSan Pablo · 328 km
NNEESESSSWWNWLegaspi · 53 kmCebu City · 273 kmBacolod City · 263 kmSan Pablo · 328 km
Mount Bulusan seen from above (Sentinel-2)
Seen from above: Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 6 × 6 km, north up. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Around, in OpenStreetMap

  • 1campsites within 10 kmLake Aguingay Campsite
  • 5places to stay within 10 kmRanger Station Hut, Recidencia del Hamor, Bulusan Tourist Hotel and 2 more
  • 1visitor centres within 5 kmBulusan Volcano Natural Park Office
  • 2restaurants and cafés within 5 km
  • observatories and planetariums within 30 km
  • viewpoints within 5 km
  • named peaks within 5 km
  • marked trails within 3 km
  • shelters and huts within 5 km
  • car parks within 3 km
  • street lamps mapped within 2 km

Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit. A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet.

In our other atlases

Around it, by day.

The mountain, island, lake, beach or canyon this place is, and what else is nearby in the family's atlases.

Peakyas11 mountains within 25 km
Mount Bulusan · this placeMount Homahan · 9.3 kmMount Bintacan · 12 kmMount Culangalan · 14 kmMount Batuan · 16 kmVerde Hill · 16 kmMount Malazimbo · 16 kmMount Caloumutan · 21 km
Lakeyas1 lakes within 15 km
Lake Bulusan0.3 km² · 5.1 km

Figures from the sister sites' databases (Wikidata, HydroATLAS, GeoNames, OpenStreetMap). Links open when each site is online.

Photographs

By day and by night.

Mount Bulusan view from Sorsogon City Coastal Road (Sorsogon; 04-23-2023)
Patrickroque01 · CC BY-SA 4.0
Kayaking at Bulusan Lake
Allan Fesalbon Castañeda · CC BY-SA 4.0
Bulusan Poblacion
Alma Gamil · CC BY 2.0

Other skies nearby.

Mount Bulusan

Philippines

  • 82Darkskyas Score
  • 21.88Sky brightness
  • 2Bortle
  • 1,565 mAltitude

Catanduanes

Philippines · 120 km

  • 79Darkskyas Score
  • 21.88Sky brightness
  • 2Bortle
  • 209 mAltitude

See the guide

Samar Island

Philippines · 141 km

  • 79Darkskyas Score
  • 21.89Sky brightness
  • 1Bortle
  • 850 mAltitude

See the guide

Leyte

Philippines · 238 km

  • 78Darkskyas Score
  • 21.85Sky brightness
  • 2Bortle
  • 1,349 mAltitude

See the guide

Where these figures come from

Name, type, certificationWikidata (Q473435) · CC0
Sky brightnessNASA Earth Observatory, Black Marble 2016 (Suomi NPP VIIRS) · Darkskyas light model (Walker's law, fitted to 18 measured sites)
Night, Moon, Milky Way, starsJ. Meeus, Astronomical Algorithms · HYG v4.4 · Stellarium modern_iau (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Horizon and altitudeCopernicus DEM GLO-90 / GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA
Clouds and temperatureNASA POWER (CERES SYN1deg, 2001–2020; MERRA-2)
Solar eclipsesEclipse Predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA/GSFC
What is around© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
ImagesEOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
Sister atlasesPeakyas, Islandyas, Lakeyas

Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.

The family

Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers, canyons, caves, dark skies, viewpoints, birdwatching or forests?

Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, in seven languages.

beachesCoastyaFind your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit lakesLakeyasEvery lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Visit mountainsPeakyasEvery summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit waterfallsCascadyasEvery waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Visit islandsIslandyasEvery island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Visit riversRiveryasEvery river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.Visit canyonsCanyonyasEvery canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Visit cavesCavernyasEvery cave with its real depth and length: the rock above, the temperature inside all year, and how to visit.Visit
dark skiesDarkskyasWhere the night is still dark: the sky of every place, the Milky Way month by month, the Moon, eclipses and auroras.You are here
viewpointsViewyasEvery viewpoint with its real 360° panorama: the peaks you can name, how far you see and where the sun sets.Coming soonVisit
birdwatchingBirdyasEvery bird sanctuary and wetland with the species recorded month by month: who is resident, who comes for the summer, who only passes through.Coming soonVisit
forestsForestyaEvery forest with its land-cover rings, what grows and lives in it, and the best months to walk it.Coming soonVisit