What the night sky looks like over Minnetonka, MN

Satellite radiance puts Minnetonka in the rural band. Little local light dome. Most stars are visible; the Milky Way is faint but often findable away from town lights. That's brighter than 10.8% of the 3,206 US cities in this dataset.

The number comes from orbit, not a stargazer's logbook, so treat it as an estimate of sky glow rather than a certified Bortle class.

How far Minnetonka is from a meaningfully darker sky

11 miles from Minnetonka, straight-line, sits Victoria, MN, the nearest city here with a darker sky than Minnetonka's own rural band.

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

Minnetonka against the rest of the dataset

About 52,651 people live in Minnetonka, MN, sized enough to appear in this dataset of 3,206 incorporated US cities. Among all 3,206 cities here, Minnetonka ranks 345 from darkest to brightest, 1 being the darkest measured.