Susanville, CA's night sky, measured from orbit

Susanville reads as rural on this dataset's scale. Little local light dome. Most stars are visible; the Milky Way is faint but often findable away from town lights. Only 9.7% of the 3,206 cities measured here read darker than Susanville.

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

How far Susanville is from a meaningfully darker sky

Truckee, CA, about 78 miles away as the crow flies, measures in the dark sky band, one step darker than Susanville. Actual driving distance will run longer than that straight-line figure.

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

How Susanville compares nationally

Susanville, CA counts roughly 12,359 residents, among the 3,206 US cities this site tracks. Susanville places 310 of 3,206 cities in this dataset's darkest-to-brightest order.