Half Moon Bay, CA Night Sky Brightness
Half Moon Bay, CA's night sky, measured from orbit
Satellite radiance puts Half Moon Bay in the rural band. Little local light dome. Most stars are visible; the Milky Way is faint but often findable away from town lights. Only 4% of the 3,206 cities measured here read darker than Half Moon Bay.
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 Half Moon Bay
162 miles from Half Moon Bay, straight-line, sits Avenal, CA, the nearest city here with a darker sky than Half Moon Bay's own rural band.
Avenal, 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 Half Moon Bay compares nationally
Half Moon Bay, CA counts roughly 11,324 residents, among the 3,206 US cities this site tracks. Half Moon Bay's position, 129 of 3,206, darkest to brightest, comes from the sampling method the methodology guide sets out.