Dayton, MN Night Sky Brightness
Dayton, MN's night sky, measured from orbit
Dayton reads as rural on this dataset's scale. Little local light dome. Most stars are visible; the Milky Way is faint but often findable away from town lights. That's brighter than 2.2% 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, explained in the Bortle scale guide.
The nearest darker sky to Dayton
Otsego, MN, about 9 miles away as the crow flies, measures in the dark sky band, one step darker than Dayton. Actual driving distance will run longer than that straight-line figure.
Otsego, MN is itself still a measured city, not a designated dark-sky park, this only compares against the 3,206 places this dataset covers.
How Dayton compares nationally
Dayton, MN has a population of about 10,744, one of 3,206 US cities of 10,000 or more residents in this dataset. Dayton's position, 72 of 3,206, darkest to brightest, comes from the sampling method the methodology guide sets out.