Atwater, CA's night sky, measured from orbit

Atwater's sky measures suburban edge here. A noticeable glow near the horizon. Brighter stars and constellations are easy to pick out; the Milky Way is washed out. Atwater's sky is brighter than 36.1% 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.

Where to go for a darker sky near Atwater

The closest place in this dataset with a meaningfully darker sky is San Ramon, CA, roughly 78 miles away in a straight line, rated rural. Road distance will be more.

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

How Atwater compares nationally

Atwater, CA counts roughly 32,248 residents, among the 3,206 US cities this site tracks. Atwater places 1,151 of 3,206 cities in this dataset's darkest-to-brightest order.