What the night sky looks like over Sterling Heights, MI

Sterling Heights reads as urban on this dataset's scale. Sky glow overhead most nights. Typically only planets, the Moon, and a handful of the brightest stars are visible. That's brighter than 96.3% of the 3,206 US 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.

How far Sterling Heights is from a meaningfully darker sky

5 miles from Sterling Heights, straight-line, sits Fraser, MI, the nearest city here with a darker sky than Sterling Heights's own urban band.

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

Sterling Heights against the rest of the dataset

Sterling Heights, MI has a population of about 134,342, one of 3,206 US cities of 10,000 or more residents in this dataset. Among all 3,206 cities here, Sterling Heights ranks 3,069 from darkest to brightest, 1 being the darkest measured.