Artesia, NM's night sky, measured from orbit

Artesia 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. Only 29.3% of the 3,206 cities measured here read darker than Artesia.

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

How far Artesia is from a meaningfully darker sky

Carlsbad, NM, about 33 miles away as the crow flies, measures in the rural band, one step darker than Artesia. Actual driving distance will run longer than that straight-line figure.

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

How Artesia compares nationally

Artesia, NM has a population of about 12,550, one of 3,206 US cities of 10,000 or more residents in this dataset. Artesia places 935 of 3,206 cities in this dataset's darkest-to-brightest order.