Albany, NY's night sky, measured from orbit

Albany reads as suburban edge on this dataset's scale. A noticeable glow near the horizon. Brighter stars and constellations are easy to pick out; the Milky Way is washed out. Albany's sky is brighter than 37.4% of the 3,206 cities in this dataset.

Note the source: a satellite reading of upward light, not a visual Bortle scale reading. The two measure related but different things.

How far Albany is from a meaningfully darker sky

North Adams, MA, about 35 miles away as the crow flies, measures in the dark sky band, one step darker than Albany. Actual driving distance will run longer than that straight-line figure.

North Adams, MA is itself still a measured city, not a designated dark-sky park, this only compares against the 3,206 places this dataset covers.

How Albany compares nationally

Albany, NY counts roughly 101,317 residents, among the 3,206 US cities this site tracks. Albany places 1,193 of 3,206 cities in this dataset's darkest-to-brightest order.