Poway, CA Night Sky Brightness
Poway, CA's night sky, measured from orbit
Poway reads as rural on this dataset's scale. Little local light dome. Most stars are visible; the Milky Way is faint but often findable away from town lights. Only 6.9% of the 3,206 cities measured here read darker than Poway.
Note the source: a satellite reading of upward light, not a visual Bortle scale reading. The two measure related but different things, explained in the Bortle scale guide.
Where to go for a darker sky near Poway
The closest place in this dataset with a meaningfully darker sky is Banning, CA, roughly 67 miles away in a straight line, rated dark sky. Road distance will be more.
Banning, CA is itself still a measured city, not a designated dark-sky park, this only compares against the 3,206 places this dataset covers.
How Poway compares nationally
Poway, CA has a population of about 49,435, one of 3,206 US cities of 10,000 or more residents in this dataset. Poway's position, 221 of 3,206, darkest to brightest, comes from the sampling method the methodology guide sets out.