Suffern, NY Night Sky Brightness
Suffern, NY's night sky, measured from orbit
Suffern'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 43.5% of the 3,206 cities measured here read darker than Suffern.
Note the source: a satellite reading of upward light, not a visual Bortle scale reading. The two measure related but different things, explained in the Bortle scale guide.
How far Suffern is from a meaningfully darker sky
Ringwood, NJ, about 7 miles away as the crow flies, measures in the dark sky band, one step darker than Suffern. Actual driving distance will run longer than that straight-line figure.
Ringwood, NJ is itself still a measured city, not a designated dark-sky park, this only compares against the 3,206 places this dataset covers.
How Suffern compares nationally
Suffern, NY counts roughly 11,537 residents, among the 3,206 US cities this site tracks. Suffern's position, 1,386 of 3,206, darkest to brightest, comes from the sampling method the methodology guide sets out.