Tempe, AZ Night Sky Brightness
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, explained in the Bortle scale guide.
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's position, 2,871 of 3,206, darkest to brightest, comes from the sampling method the methodology guide sets out.