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[drake]

Hi. I just joined and I dont really know anything about astronomy but I would really like to see the perseid shower. I live in Naperville and drove out past dekalb last night and was horribly dissapointed. I looked northeast and could not see one star.

Can anybody recommend a place I can go watch the shower? Did I not drive far enough west or was it just a bad night? I just don't want to be driving for hours again to see nothing. Thanks for any help you can provide.

Drake

[RobbW]

Hey Drake, sorry to hear you were disappointed. The skies should have been really clear for you last night. They were Downtown and also out by me in Elgin. If you drove out west of DeKalb and then looked back to the northeast, the lights from DeKalb probably weren't helping you any. Although, the light pollution out near DeKalb should be less than around here.

If you want to find places to go for good viewing, check out the Dark Sky Finder at www.jshine.net/astronomy/dark_sky. This map grades the light pollution levels in different areas. To have decent dark skies at night, at the very least, you'll want to get to an area in the yellow. For really good dark skies, head for green areas. Unfortunately, you won't find great dark skies around here unless you're willing to drive hours and hours to any of the blue or grey areas on the map.

Over this past weekend, I was up in the Wisconsin Dells. I drove just a little north of the Dells and had very good dark skies. I was able to plainly see the Milky Way and tons of stars. The Perseids meteors that I saw were spectacular. According to the Dark Sky Finder map, the area near the Dells where I was observing is in a yellow zone. So, if you don't mind the longer drive to a green zone, you should be significantly impressed with the skies at night.

[drake]

Thanks! That utility is really useful. I found a green area on the map about an hour and a half away from my house. Thats not too bad. Also, this weekend I might be heading to Galena so I'll probably have even better luck there.

[RobbW]

You should have some decent dark skies out near Galena. Also, the Apple River Canyon area a little northeast of Galena is supposed to be a good site for observing. One of these days I'm going to head out towards my hometown of Mt. Morris. I want to see if the skies are still as dark as I remember from my childhood. Most likely not, but the Dark Sky Finder map shows a green zone just slightly to the west of my hometown.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Drake,

It's great that we have Robb as a member who knows the area and can recommend locales like that.

I hope you caught some Perseids and share with us your experience in darker skies.