Bristol, VA's night sky, measured from orbit

Bristol 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. Bristol's sky is brighter than 21.3% 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 Bristol

Lewisville, NC, about 103 miles away as the crow flies, measures in the rural band, one step darker than Bristol. Actual driving distance will run longer than that straight-line figure.

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

How Bristol compares nationally

About 16,316 people live in Bristol, VA, sized enough to appear in this dataset of 3,206 incorporated US cities. Bristol places 679 of 3,206 cities in this dataset's darkest-to-brightest order.