Mount Airy, NC's night sky, measured from orbit

Satellite radiance puts Mount Airy in the suburban band. Light dome dominates much of the sky. Only the brightest stars and planets stand out clearly. Only 45.7% of the 3,206 cities measured here read darker than Mount Airy.

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 Mount Airy

Lewisville, NC, about 30 miles away as the crow flies, measures in the rural band, one step darker than Mount Airy. Actual driving distance will run longer than that straight-line figure.

Lewisville, 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 Mount Airy compares nationally

Mount Airy, NC counts roughly 10,583 residents, among the 3,206 US cities this site tracks. Mount Airy places 1,459 of 3,206 cities in this dataset's darkest-to-brightest order.