Portsmouth, OH's night sky, measured from orbit

Portsmouth's sky measures rural here. Little local light dome. Most stars are visible; the Milky Way is faint but often findable away from town lights. That's brighter than 3% of the 3,206 US cities in this dataset.

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

How far Portsmouth is from a meaningfully darker sky

The closest place in this dataset with a meaningfully darker sky is Fort Oglethorpe, GA, roughly 293 miles away in a straight line, rated dark sky. Road distance will be more.

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

How Portsmouth compares nationally

Portsmouth, OH has a population of about 17,489, one of 3,206 US cities of 10,000 or more residents in this dataset. Portsmouth places 98 of 3,206 cities in this dataset's darkest-to-brightest order.