What the night sky looks like over Charleston, SC

Satellite radiance puts Charleston in the rural band. Little local light dome. Most stars are visible; the Milky Way is faint but often findable away from town lights. That's brighter than 8.1% of the 3,206 US cities in this dataset.

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 Charleston is from a meaningfully darker sky

53 miles from Charleston, straight-line, sits Port Royal, SC, the nearest city here with a darker sky than Charleston's own rural band.

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

Charleston against the rest of the dataset

About 157,665 people live in Charleston, SC, sized enough to appear in this dataset of 3,206 incorporated US cities. Among all 3,206 cities here, Charleston ranks 258 from darkest to brightest, 1 being the darkest measured.