Tempe, AZ's night sky, measured from orbit

Tempe 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. Only 90.1% of the 3,206 cities measured here read darker than Tempe.

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

How far Tempe is from a meaningfully darker sky

The closest place in this dataset with a meaningfully darker sky is Paradise Valley, AZ, roughly 11 miles away in a straight line, rated suburban edge. Road distance will be more.

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

How Tempe compares nationally

Tempe, AZ has a population of about 190,114, one of 3,206 US cities of 10,000 or more residents in this dataset. Tempe places 2,871 of 3,206 cities in this dataset's darkest-to-brightest order.