West Des Moines, IA's night sky, measured from orbit

West Des Moines'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 41.6% of the 3,206 cities measured here read darker than West Des Moines.

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

How far West Des Moines is from a meaningfully darker sky

6 miles from West Des Moines, straight-line, sits Waukee, IA, the nearest city here with a darker sky than West Des Moines's own suburban edge band.

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

How West Des Moines compares nationally

About 73,664 people live in West Des Moines, IA, sized enough to appear in this dataset of 3,206 incorporated US cities. West Des Moines places 1,327 of 3,206 cities in this dataset's darkest-to-brightest order.