World of Art Global Vintage London Underground 'Brightest London is Reached by Underground', 1924, Horace Taylor, Reproduction 200gsm A3 Vintage Travel Poster

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However, it’s not all dark across the country. Barranquilla in the north of Colombia averages seven hours of sunlight per day, while near the southern hemisphere in Bogotá the figure is just over 3.5 hours. However, Iceland’s long and dark winter months can mean some cities get just a few hours of sunlight in the snowy season! This gives a yearly average of under four sunlight hours per day in Reykjavik.

The brightest city in the world is Riyadh in Saudi Arabia. The country’s brightest and most populated city is located in the middle of the An Nafud desert - an open sandy plane covering 103,600km².Buenos Aires gets just under seven hours of sunlight per day on average and has the fourth-highest natural light pollution level. London is an unlikely contender for the brightest city in the world, with England so often associated with gloomy skies, rain and short summers. Botogá’s light pollution level is just under 3mcd/m², placing it towards the bottom of the ranking. It also has one of the lowest levels of artificial brightness at just under 3,000μcd/m². London’s light pollution level is just over 11, yet its light festivals secure its place in the world’s top five brightest. All five brightest cities, except Buenos Aires, are located in the Earth’s northern hemisphere which gets more hours of direct sunlight per day.

However, Saudi Arabia tops the list - since it was largely an open desert until the recent growth of urban cities, it receives unmatched levels of sunlight.

The Lure of the Underground by Alfred Leete, 1927

An original poster depicting people dining at a restaurant. One of a series of four posters by Virginie Morgand celebrating the very best of London after dark. The artist uses hand drawn shapes and bright colours to create a vibrant image full of life and energy. You can see plenty more posters, plus vintage maps and photos, on London Transport Museum's online collection. Does your fave not feature in this article? Let us know in the comments.

Benefitting from not only natural light, Saudi Arabia’s financial hub is also illuminated by street lights, office buildings and the annual light festival Noor Riyadh. This is clearly shown in its light pollution level which is almost 19mcd/m². A list of 50 capital cities across all continents of the world was taken and Lightpolutionmap.com revealed the light pollution level and artificial brightness level of each city.Luxembourg’s capital gets on average just under five hours of sunlight per day - a result of short winter days. The natural brightness level is astonishingly low at 3.5, showing how little daylight falls on Luxembourg. The world’s brightest cities are dominated by large cities with high populations - most wouldn’t be surprised to see advertising hotspots like London and Dubai towards the top of our list. Although Argentina's capital city is covered in man-made lights - its light pollution level is over 12mcd/m²!

This organized Observing Guide is designed to provide key information for planning observing sessions of Solar System Objects

Ever After Garden in Grosvenor Square

If you’ve heard of the famous ‘midnight sun’ season where days can last up to 22 hours and the sun never fully sets, you might be surprised to see Reykjavík so far down the list. visible during specific time intervals: post-sunset observations, nocturnal observations, pre-sunrise observations.