Charleston, WV's night sky, measured from orbit

Charleston reads as inner-city on this dataset's scale. Among the brightest skies in this dataset. Usually just the Moon and a few of the brightest stars or planets cut through. That's brighter than 99.5% 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.

Where to go for a darker sky near Charleston

The closest place in this dataset with a meaningfully darker sky is South Charleston, WV, roughly 4 miles away in a straight line, rated suburban edge. Road distance will be more.

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

How Charleston compares nationally

Charleston, WV has a population of about 46,482, one of 3,206 US cities of 10,000 or more residents in this dataset. Charleston places 3,173 of 3,206 cities in this dataset's darkest-to-brightest order.