What the night sky looks like over Fairbanks, AK

Fairbanks reads as suburban on this dataset's scale. Light dome dominates much of the sky. Only the brightest stars and planets stand out clearly. That's brighter than 80.3% 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.

The nearest darker sky to Fairbanks

Wasilla, AK, about 232 miles away as the crow flies, measures in the suburban edge band, one step darker than Fairbanks. Actual driving distance will run longer than that straight-line figure.

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

Fairbanks against the rest of the dataset

About 31,732 people live in Fairbanks, AK, sized enough to appear in this dataset of 3,206 incorporated US cities. Among all 3,206 cities here, Fairbanks ranks 2,560 from darkest to brightest, 1 being the darkest measured.