Carbondale, IL's night sky, measured from orbit

Carbondale's sky measures suburban here. Light dome dominates much of the sky. Only the brightest stars and planets stand out clearly. That's brighter than 74.7% of the 3,206 US 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.

The nearest darker sky to Carbondale

33 miles from Carbondale, straight-line, sits Jackson, MO, the nearest city here with a darker sky than Carbondale's own suburban band.

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

How Carbondale compares nationally

Carbondale, IL counts roughly 22,223 residents, among the 3,206 US cities this site tracks. Carbondale places 2,382 of 3,206 cities in this dataset's darkest-to-brightest order.