Lafayette, CA Night Sky Brightness
How dark is the sky in Lafayette, CA?
Satellite radiance puts Lafayette in the suburban edge band. A noticeable glow near the horizon. Brighter stars and constellations are easy to pick out; the Milky Way is washed out. Lafayette's sky is brighter than 42.3% of the 3,206 cities in this dataset.
Worth remembering: this is satellite radiance, not a ground observation. A true Bortle rating needs a human eye at night, this is the closest large-scale substitute, covered fully in the Bortle scale guide.
Where to go for a darker sky near Lafayette
3 miles from Lafayette, straight-line, sits Orinda, CA, the nearest city here with a darker sky than Lafayette's own suburban edge band.
Orinda, CA is itself still a measured city, not a designated dark-sky park, this only compares against the 3,206 places this dataset covers.
Lafayette against the rest of the dataset
Lafayette, CA counts roughly 25,371 residents, among the 3,206 US cities this site tracks. Ranked against the other 3,206 cities here by the methodology guide's own sampling, Lafayette comes in at 1,348, darkest to brightest.