Downey, CA's night sky, measured from orbit

Downey's sky measures urban here. Sky glow overhead most nights. Typically only planets, the Moon, and a handful of the brightest stars are visible. Downey's sky is brighter than 97% 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.

How far Downey is from a meaningfully darker sky

4 miles from Downey, straight-line, sits Pico Rivera, CA, the nearest city here with a darker sky than Downey's own urban band.

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

How Downey compares nationally

Downey, CA has a population of about 109,368, one of 3,206 US cities of 10,000 or more residents in this dataset. Downey places 3,092 of 3,206 cities in this dataset's darkest-to-brightest order.