I finally found a downside to living in CenPho

24-hour brightness will obscure and virtually eliminate my ability to check out the on-coming Perseid Meteor Shower.

True, Astronomy is usually not within my spectrum of nerdhood, but laying out in the cool early morning air and watching some fireballs race across the sky sounds pretty awesome.

One of the strongest and most reliable of the major annual meteor showers returns Thursday night and early Friday, when dark skies may reveal 60 to 70 Perseid meteors an hour.

The best time for viewing in Arizona will likely be 2 a.m. to 5 a.m. Friday, said Alan MacRobert, a senior editor at Sky & Telescope magazine. Observers may spot a few early arrivals on Wednesday and some stragglers on Friday night.

The key to viewing: darkness. Light pollution washes out faint meteors, so observers in urban backyards may see just a dozen or so an hour.

Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/thingstodo/events/articles/2010/08/11/20100811perseid-meteor-shower-returns-phoenix.html#ixzz0wK5bV2ta

If only I knew a really dark place to go to see these.

Image courtesy of azcentral.com. Click here for full story: