Lenoir, NC's night sky, measured from orbit

Satellite radiance puts Lenoir 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. That's brighter than 34.2% 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 Lenoir

The closest place in this dataset with a meaningfully darker sky is Davidson, NC, roughly 49 miles away in a straight line, rated rural. Road distance will be more.

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

How Lenoir compares nationally

Lenoir, NC has a population of about 18,280, one of 3,206 US cities of 10,000 or more residents in this dataset. Lenoir places 1,090 of 3,206 cities in this dataset's darkest-to-brightest order.