Gallup, NM's night sky, measured from orbit

Gallup reads as suburban edge on this dataset's scale. A noticeable glow near the horizon. Brighter stars and constellations are easy to pick out; the Milky Way is washed out. Gallup's sky is brighter than 43.8% 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 Gallup is from a meaningfully darker sky

Show Low, AZ, about 113 miles away as the crow flies, measures in the rural band, one step darker than Gallup. Actual driving distance will run longer than that straight-line figure.

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

How Gallup compares nationally

Gallup, NM has a population of about 20,339, one of 3,206 US cities of 10,000 or more residents in this dataset. Gallup places 1,396 of 3,206 cities in this dataset's darkest-to-brightest order.