The annual Perseid meteor shower is almost here! It peaks between the 11th and 13 of August, and is one of the more wholesome ways to use your late night-early morning hours. Weather permitting, I hope I can make a short drive out of town, away from city lights, and watch this amazing natural phenomenon of the night skies.
Below, a somewhat daunting link to a sky events schedule:
The Nebraska Sandhills region is famous among skywatchers, who flock there to watch the night skies. There’s little light pollution, thanks to lots of cattle pastures and few human settlements! You actually can see the stars there!
I often miss the Perseid meteor showers because of cloud cover and a lack of enthusiasm for driving out of town, sitting on a dark country road (sounds spooky, eh?!) looking suspicious or vulnerable, and having to do this several nights before I catch a glimpse of the meteors. It always is more fun, too, if you can talk someone else to go out with you, which hasn’t worked out in recent years. Some people still work!
Did you see this: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn24111-red-sprites-snapped-dancing-above-a-nebraska-storm.html#.UiJWg9K-pmg
No, but wouldn’t that be something to see?! I’m not sure where that was observed, but the north central section of the state is excellent for sky events because of low light pollution (it’s lightly populated cattle country, primarily). I’d almost guess this was spotted in that area.
I re-read the article, and Red Willow County is in south central Nebraska, next to the Kansas border. It’s not excessively populated, either, but more so than the north central section of the state.