Hawthorne, CA Night Sky Brightness
Hawthorne, CA's night sky, measured from orbit
Hawthorne reads as urban on this dataset's scale. Sky glow overhead most nights. Typically only planets, the Moon, and a handful of the brightest stars are visible. Hawthorne's sky is brighter than 96% 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, explained in the Bortle scale guide.
How far Hawthorne is from a meaningfully darker sky
Manhattan Beach, CA, about 4 miles away as the crow flies, measures in the suburban edge band, one step darker than Hawthorne. Actual driving distance will run longer than that straight-line figure.
Manhattan Beach, 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 Hawthorne compares nationally
Hawthorne, CA has a population of about 83,633, one of 3,206 US cities of 10,000 or more residents in this dataset. Hawthorne's position, 3,061 of 3,206, darkest to brightest, comes from the sampling method the methodology guide sets out.