Sterling, CO's night sky, measured from orbit

Satellite radiance puts Sterling 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. Only 38.9% of the 3,206 cities measured here read darker than Sterling.

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

How far Sterling is from a meaningfully darker sky

84 miles from Sterling, straight-line, sits Evans, CO, the nearest city here with a darker sky than Sterling's own suburban edge band.

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

How Sterling compares nationally

About 13,114 people live in Sterling, CO, sized enough to appear in this dataset of 3,206 incorporated US cities. Sterling places 1,242 of 3,206 cities in this dataset's darkest-to-brightest order.