What the night sky looks like over Branson, MO

Satellite radiance puts Branson in the rural band. Little local light dome. Most stars are visible; the Milky Way is faint but often findable away from town lights. Only 6.1% of the 3,206 cities measured here read darker than Branson.

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.

How far Branson is from a meaningfully darker sky

Godfrey, IL, about 233 miles away as the crow flies, measures in the dark sky band, one step darker than Branson. Actual driving distance will run longer than that straight-line figure.

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

Branson against the rest of the dataset

Branson, MO has a population of about 12,869, one of 3,206 US cities of 10,000 or more residents in this dataset. Among all 3,206 cities here, Branson ranks 196 from darkest to brightest, 1 being the darkest measured.