Las Cruces, NM Night Sky Brightness
How dark is the sky in Las Cruces, NM?
Las Cruces reads as suburban edge on this dataset's scale. A noticeable glow near the horizon. Brighter stars and constellations are easy to pick out; the Milky Way is washed out. That's brighter than 34.2% of the 3,206 US 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.
The nearest darker sky to Las Cruces
Carlsbad, NM, about 149 miles away as the crow flies, measures in the rural band, one step darker than Las Cruces. Actual driving distance will run longer than that straight-line figure.
Carlsbad, NM is itself still a measured city, not a designated dark-sky park, this only compares against the 3,206 places this dataset covers.
Las Cruces against the rest of the dataset
About 116,998 people live in Las Cruces, NM, sized enough to appear in this dataset of 3,206 incorporated US cities. Ranked against the other 3,206 cities here by the methodology guide's own sampling, Las Cruces comes in at 1,092, darkest to brightest.