Watsonville, CA's night sky, measured from orbit

Watsonville reads as suburban on this dataset's scale. Light dome dominates much of the sky. Only the brightest stars and planets stand out clearly. Only 50.2% of the 3,206 cities measured here read darker than Watsonville.

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

Where to go for a darker sky near Watsonville

Gilroy, CA, about 12 miles away as the crow flies, measures in the suburban edge band, one step darker than Watsonville. Actual driving distance will run longer than that straight-line figure.

Gilroy, 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 Watsonville compares nationally

Watsonville, CA has a population of about 51,320, one of 3,206 US cities of 10,000 or more residents in this dataset. Watsonville places 1,601 of 3,206 cities in this dataset's darkest-to-brightest order.