Machesney Park, IL Night Sky Brightness
How dark is the sky in Machesney Park, IL?
Machesney Park's sky measures urban here. Sky glow overhead most nights. Typically only planets, the Moon, and a handful of the brightest stars are visible. Only 89.7% of the 3,206 cities measured here read darker than Machesney Park.
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.
How far Machesney Park is from a meaningfully darker sky
The closest place in this dataset with a meaningfully darker sky is Loves Park, IL, roughly 2 miles away in a straight line, rated suburban edge. Road distance will be more.
Loves Park, IL is itself still a measured city, not a designated dark-sky park, this only compares against the 3,206 places this dataset covers.
Machesney Park against the rest of the dataset
Machesney Park, IL has a population of about 22,839, one of 3,206 US cities of 10,000 or more residents in this dataset. Ranked against the other 3,206 cities here by the methodology guide's own sampling, Machesney Park comes in at 2,861, darkest to brightest.