Shawnee, KS Night Sky Brightness
How dark is the sky in Shawnee, KS?
Satellite radiance puts Shawnee in the suburban edge band. A noticeable glow near the horizon. Brighter stars and constellations are easy to pick out; the Milky Way is washed out. Shawnee's sky is brighter than 14.6% of the 3,206 cities in this dataset.
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 Shawnee
4 miles from Shawnee, straight-line, sits Lenexa, KS, the nearest city here with a darker sky than Shawnee's own suburban edge band.
Lenexa, KS is itself still a measured city, not a designated dark-sky park, this only compares against the 3,206 places this dataset covers.
Shawnee against the rest of the dataset
Shawnee, KS has a population of about 69,724, 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, Shawnee comes in at 467, darkest to brightest.