Rio Rancho, NM Night Sky Brightness
How dark is the sky in Rio Rancho, NM?
Rio Rancho's sky measures suburban edge here. A noticeable glow near the horizon. Brighter stars and constellations are easy to pick out; the Milky Way is washed out. Only 20.1% of the 3,206 cities measured here read darker than Rio Rancho.
Worth remembering: this is satellite radiance, not a ground observation. A true Bortle rating needs a human eye at night, this is the closest large-scale substitute, covered fully in the Bortle scale guide.
Where to go for a darker sky near Rio Rancho
34 miles from Rio Rancho, straight-line, sits Los Lunas, NM, the nearest city here with a darker sky than Rio Rancho's own suburban edge band.
Los Lunas, NM is itself still a measured city, not a designated dark-sky park, this only compares against the 3,206 places this dataset covers.
Rio Rancho against the rest of the dataset
Rio Rancho, NM has a population of about 112,524, one of 3,206 US cities of 10,000 or more residents in this dataset. Ranked against the other 3,206 cities here by the methodology guide's own sampling, Rio Rancho comes in at 640, darkest to brightest.