Here's the good news. This year's Perseid Meteor Shower is going to be the biggest one in a decade. August 11th and 12th are going to have twice the number of meteors streaking through the night sky as the normal Perseid meteor. Up to 200 an hour!

Bad news. We live in an INCREDIBLY light polluted area of the country. Almost the entire listening area of WRRV is in an intensely polluted section. It's almost impossible to see anything at all from the city centers of Poughkeepsie and Newburgh.

So, where the heck can you go to see the best meteor shower in 10 years?

DarkSiteFinder.com
DarkSiteFinder.com
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The short answer is NOT east or south. The entire eastern seaboard is completely shot for night sky viewing.

There is a TINY piece of prime sky viewing real estate to the north and east of Poughkeepsie, in a town called Boston Corner, NY. It's just outside the Mt. Washington State Forest. It's essentially in the corner where NY, Massachusetts and Connecticut meet.

However, the largest area of dark sky with a prime viewing location is to the west of us, starting at West Shokan and heading west through Sundown, Big Indian Wilderness and Cherry Ridge Wild Forest. Sounds far away but it really isn't. The absolute best place for us to get away from city light pollution is at Murphy Hill State Forest, in Andes NY. It's 2 hours from Poughkeepsie, across some of the greatest scenery NYS has to offer.

Check out Dark Site Finder for the best place near you to view the Perseid Meteor shower. Remember, just going to someplace you THINK is dark isn't normally the best way to see them. You really need to get a good distance away from all substantial light sources to really experience the night sky.

If you don't want to travel too far, the light pollution starts to really dim out around Clinton Corners on the Poughkeepsie side of the Hudson River, and Minnewaska State Park is oodles better than New Paltz. Yankee Lake off of Route 17 is an ok spot too.

So, check out the light pollution maps and good luck staring at the night sky!

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