Meteor shower viewing for the urbanite

August 11, 2006 10:52 AM

The Perseid meteor shower will be in full swing Saturday night. Where should New Yorkers go to enjoy it?

My lady friend and I have neither an automobile nor a great desire to leave the five boroughs. Are there any NYC astronomers amongst the MeFi population who can advise on a good, non-sketchy location for the viewing of Saturday night's meteor show?

posted by CRM114 to sports, hobbies, & recreation (7 comments total)

There was a discussion about watching the shower in Seattle the other day. You'll have the same problem, regardles of where you go: the moon is waxing gibbous and will produce more light pollution than any ground-based light. This light pollution will be inescapable, unfortunately.
posted by solid-one-love at 11:15 AM on August 11, 2006

Not inescapable, actually. According to NASA viewing should be okay between about 8:30 pm and 10:00 pm when the moon rises. So I second the question.
posted by The Bellman at 11:46 AM on August 11, 2006

My completely inexperienced, probably useless hunch would be taking the B train out to Brighton Beach, or if it's more convenient, perhaps the N/Q to Coney Island. Whenever I go to Coney Island at night I'm always struck by how serene and clear the sky is after the festivities calm down.

But again, IANAA so if it turns out to be a wasted swipe, I apologize.
posted by incomple at 1:57 PM on August 11, 2006

The Perseid showers sound amazing, too. If you can't see it, at least stream it.
posted by mykescipark at 3:05 PM on August 11, 2006

(An audio recording of the last Perseid stream, incidentally, is here.)
posted by mykescipark at 3:51 PM on August 11, 2006

I think we'll be taking incomple's advice and heading out to Brooklyn. I'll report back in this thread. Thanks for the thoughts, all.
posted by CRM114 at 11:06 AM on August 12, 2006

Anticlimax: We didn't actually end up going. Next year, perhaps.
posted by CRM114 at 7:05 AM on August 13, 2006