What the night sky looks like over Modesto, CA

Satellite radiance puts Modesto in the urban band. Sky glow overhead most nights. Typically only planets, the Moon, and a handful of the brightest stars are visible. Only 96% of the 3,206 cities measured here read darker than Modesto.

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.

The nearest darker sky to Modesto

Riverbank, CA, about 7 miles away as the crow flies, measures in the suburban edge band, one step darker than Modesto. Actual driving distance will run longer than that straight-line figure.

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

Modesto against the rest of the dataset

About 220,592 people live in Modesto, CA, sized enough to appear in this dataset of 3,206 incorporated US cities. Among all 3,206 cities here, Modesto ranks 3,059 from darkest to brightest, 1 being the darkest measured.