Helena, AL Night Sky Brightness
Helena, AL's night sky, measured from orbit
Satellite radiance puts Helena in the rural band. Little local light dome. Most stars are visible; the Milky Way is faint but often findable away from town lights. That's brighter than 3.5% of the 3,206 US 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.
The nearest darker sky to Helena
9 miles from Helena, straight-line, sits Pelham, AL, the nearest city here with a darker sky than Helena's own rural band.
Pelham, AL is itself still a measured city, not a designated dark-sky park, this only compares against the 3,206 places this dataset covers.
How Helena compares nationally
About 22,200 people live in Helena, AL, sized enough to appear in this dataset of 3,206 incorporated US cities. Helena's position, 115 of 3,206, darkest to brightest, comes from the sampling method the methodology guide sets out.