Highland, IL's night sky, measured from orbit

Highland's sky measures rural here. Little local light dome. Most stars are visible; the Milky Way is faint but often findable away from town lights. Highland's sky is brighter than 2.8% 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.

The nearest darker sky to Highland

32 miles from Highland, straight-line, sits Godfrey, IL, the nearest city here with a darker sky than Highland's own rural band.

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

How Highland compares nationally

About 10,028 people live in Highland, IL, sized enough to appear in this dataset of 3,206 incorporated US cities. Highland places 89 of 3,206 cities in this dataset's darkest-to-brightest order.