Lancaster, NY Night Sky Brightness
Lancaster, NY's night sky, measured from orbit
Lancaster's sky measures suburban here. Light dome dominates much of the sky. Only the brightest stars and planets stand out clearly. Only 54.1% of the 3,206 cities measured here read darker than Lancaster.
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 Lancaster
Depew, NY, about 2 miles away as the crow flies, measures in the suburban edge band, one step darker than Lancaster. Actual driving distance will run longer than that straight-line figure.
Depew, NY is itself still a measured city, not a designated dark-sky park, this only compares against the 3,206 places this dataset covers.
How Lancaster compares nationally
Lancaster, NY counts roughly 10,094 residents, among the 3,206 US cities this site tracks. Lancaster's position, 1,725 of 3,206, darkest to brightest, comes from the sampling method the methodology guide sets out.