Photos + A list of 20 countries with least light pollution (Best part? All are in Africa and Oceania)

#NPRNightSky The Milky Way over Kilimanjaro. Day three on little hike. ic.twitter.com/uUHobTVDNB — BryanYM (@BryanYM5) June 19, 2016
When you look out your window at night, can you see the stars? Or are the heavens just a murky haze?

If you're not seeing stars, you're not alone. A new report says that 80 percent of the world lives under light-polluted skies — and the Milky Way is hidden from more than a third of humanity. Blame it on the artificial lights that shine at night.

So who gets those pristine, ink-black sky conditions? You can, of course, find a great night sky in any country — as long as you're far from city lights. But according to the study, the 20 countries with the least light pollution are in Africa and Oceania.

Here's the list:
  1. Chad
  2. Central African Republic
  3. Madagascar
  4. Guinea
  5. Somalia
  6. Ethiopia
  7. Liberia
  8. Niger
  9. Sierra Leone
  10. Democratic Republic of Congo
  11. Burundi
  12. Guinea-Bissau
  13. Papua New Guinea
  14. Eritrea
  15. Mali
  16. Tanzania
  17. Solomon Islands
  18. Mauritania
  19. Uganda
  20. Sudan

@NPRGoatsandSoda This one by @mosadjadpour for @seedeffect in #SouthSudan is a fav! #NPRNightSky - Seed Effect‏@seedeffect

Kelsey Weisgerber ‏@KelsWeisgerber Beautiful night at Kidepo National Park in N. Uganda @NPRGoatsandSoda #NPRNightSky photo by my friend Kate Stephen
teena teena ‏@wattee_wattee Jun 17 @NPRGoatsandSoda When the moon is round. Lake Anosy, Antananarivo, Madagascar #NPRNightSky
Source(s): NPR and all photos from Twitter (click the latter for photo copyright issues and also more photos).