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.

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 places 115 of 3,206 cities in this dataset's darkest-to-brightest order.