O-RICH

surely the warmer climates don't get the darker skies?

Search for a down jacket, they are not cheap but are good for keeping you warm, astronomers tend to be stood still so not generating heat, places like Go Outdoors occasionally have them in a clearance, also PHD. Warmer climes are more south so can get more dark skies, they are less influenced by the tilt so in Summer they will get a reasonable length of dark. Around the equator the day is basically 12 hours light, 12 hours dark

Ay, it seems to be as Ronin says. There are some other benfits for being a little closer to the equator, too. The first is that as the seasons change, there is slightly more variation in what's visible. You can see just a little more southerly.

The second aspect is that as Ronin says, as you get closer to the equator, the difference between the length of the night from summer to winter is reduced. While this means that winter nights are longer further north, it also means in summer...