I’ve been to some pretty distant places, and had the opportunity to get a decent look at the stars from some of them, but here’s a map that will show pretty definitively where the darkest places are. And some of the darkest places in the US are just a short drive from home-sweet-home! I made some late-night stops in the middle of nowhere South Dakota while driving for the casket company; on a clear moonless night outside of Buffalo, SD, you can see a lot. My only regret was that it was mid-winter when I did that!
Most of the bright spots on the map are pretty easy to figure out because they coincide with metropolitan areas. The bigger the bright spot, the bigger the city. But one in our neighborhood stands out, and doesn’t make much sense; there are no cities anywhere near a large bright spot in the north-west corner of North Dakota. Ditto with the northern edge of Alaska. Oil wells? That would be my guess.
This weekend is supposed to be the peak time for viewing the Perseid meteor shower. Ordinarily I might be up for a drive for the show, but smoke from the fires out west is making the skies not as clear as they ought to be. That probably wouldn’t make a huge difference in seeing meteors burning up as they enter the atmosphere, but that’s only part of the draw for me. Next time…