What the night sky looks like over Richmond, VA

Richmond 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. Richmond's sky is brighter than 20.3% of the 3,206 cities in this dataset.

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.

Where to go for a darker sky near Richmond

61 miles from Richmond, straight-line, sits Newport News, VA, the nearest city here with a darker sky than Richmond's own suburban edge band.

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.

Richmond against the rest of the dataset

Richmond, VA has a population of about 233,655, one of 3,206 US cities of 10,000 or more residents in this dataset. Among all 3,206 cities here, Richmond ranks 648 from darkest to brightest, 1 being the darkest measured.