What the night sky looks like over Albuquerque, NM

Satellite radiance puts Albuquerque in the urban band. Sky glow overhead most nights. Typically only planets, the Moon, and a handful of the brightest stars are visible. Only 97.7% of the 3,206 cities measured here read darker than Albuquerque.

The number comes from orbit, not a stargazer's logbook, so treat it as an estimate of sky glow rather than a certified Bortle class.

Where to go for a darker sky near Albuquerque

The closest place in this dataset with a meaningfully darker sky is Rio Rancho, NM, roughly 13 miles away in a straight line, rated suburban edge. Road distance will be more.

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

Albuquerque against the rest of the dataset

Albuquerque, NM has a population of about 560,326, one of 3,206 US cities of 10,000 or more residents in this dataset. Among all 3,206 cities here, Albuquerque ranks 3,116 from darkest to brightest, 1 being the darkest measured.