Northeastern part of the sky: the optimal viewing time is between late Wednesday night to pre-dawn Thursday. Assuming that your night is clear of both clouds and light pollution, of course. I admit to being of two minds about light pollution. It’s nice to see the stars; but it’s equally nice to see what might be sneaking up on you, too. It can get dark out there.
[pause]
Hey, my species became Earth’s apex predators for a reason.
You’re too insecure about your place at the top of the food chain.
There aren’t a whole lot of critters on this continent that reasonably constitute a threat, and most of those aren’t really nocturnal.
But if you’re concerned, take along a dog.
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I’m within a half hour of some of the darkest skies in the country, about twice that from some that have a reasonable claim to be the darkest. 😉 But my backyard isn’t half bad.
i thought sparkly vampires were the apex predators. but i know what you mean. i was in the smokies, dead of nite, and we were flopped in an unlit parking lot watching the stars. suddenly something clicked in my head that said get out now. my partner at the time was grumpy about it but i insisted. maybe 50 yards from where we had been we passed a black bear. they apparently do not like car horns.
We dragged ourselves out of bed at 3am to see this…we are in a good dark area and have a nice view of the NE sky. Last year the meteor shower was amazing. This year…meh. We went back to bed within 45 minutes.
I gave it two shots: one at 11 PM-ish, one at 2 AM. Didn’t see a meteor, but actually, you know, looked at the stars. So I’m scoring this as a win anyway.
Saw a couple while walking the dogs, but didn’t drag the kids out of bed.
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Depending on the cloud cover, I might declare tonight a backyard safari.