Frederick, MD's night sky, measured from orbit

Satellite radiance puts Frederick in the urban band. Sky glow overhead most nights. Typically only planets, the Moon, and a handful of the brightest stars are visible. Only 88.4% of the 3,206 cities measured here read darker than Frederick.

Note the source: a satellite reading of upward light, not a visual Bortle scale reading. The two measure related but different things.

How far Frederick is from a meaningfully darker sky

24 miles from Frederick, straight-line, sits Waynesboro, PA, the nearest city here with a darker sky than Frederick's own urban band.

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

How Frederick compares nationally

Frederick, MD counts roughly 89,537 residents, among the 3,206 US cities this site tracks. Frederick places 2,817 of 3,206 cities in this dataset's darkest-to-brightest order.