What the night sky looks like over Bel Aire, KS

Satellite radiance puts Bel Aire in the suburban edge band. A noticeable glow near the horizon. Brighter stars and constellations are easy to pick out; the Milky Way is washed out. Only 21.7% of the 3,206 cities measured here read darker than Bel Aire.

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.

The nearest darker sky to Bel Aire

The closest place in this dataset with a meaningfully darker sky is Lenexa, KS, roughly 156 miles away in a straight line, rated rural. Road distance will be more.

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

Bel Aire against the rest of the dataset

About 10,066 people live in Bel Aire, KS, sized enough to appear in this dataset of 3,206 incorporated US cities. Among all 3,206 cities here, Bel Aire ranks 693 from darkest to brightest, 1 being the darkest measured.