Petersburg, VA's night sky, measured from orbit

Petersburg reads as suburban edge on this dataset's scale. A noticeable glow near the horizon. Brighter stars and constellations are easy to pick out; the Milky Way is washed out. Only 18% of the 3,206 cities measured here read darker than Petersburg.

Note the source: a satellite reading of upward light, not a visual Bortle scale reading. The two measure related but different things.

Where to go for a darker sky near Petersburg

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

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

How Petersburg compares nationally

Petersburg, VA has a population of about 34,058, one of 3,206 US cities of 10,000 or more residents in this dataset. Petersburg places 574 of 3,206 cities in this dataset's darkest-to-brightest order.