North Dakota is one of the best states to stargaze in thanks to low light pollution and a lot of open sky. Naturally, when a meteor shower passes over the earth, this means that the Peace Garden State is your front row seat to the show. In August of 2018, a meteor shower will be visible from the state and you do not want to miss the chance to see it.
When the sun sets over North Dakota, a dazzling display of thousands of stars and the faint outline of the Milky Way comes into viewing.
Jimmy Emerson/Flickr North Dakota has one of the lowest amounts of light pollution in the entire country, thanks to our smaller cities and most of the land being devoted to farming and ranching. Without that light pollution and with the wide open prairie sky, you get one of the most spectacular places to stargaze. Throw in a meteor shower and you’ve got the perfect show!
Places like the Theodore Roosevelt National Park, shown below at night, are great places to fully get away from civilization and just enjoy the star-dotted heavens.
Justin Kern/Flickr This park even hosts an annual stargazing festival known as the Dakota Nights Astronomy Festival. This year, it will be taking place from September 7-9.
In July and August of 2018, the Perseid Meteor Shower will be showing up over the northern hemisphere and you don’t want to miss it.
Sam DeLong/Flickr The meteors from this shower should start showing up between July 17 and August 24. North Dakota is right in the viewing path of the comet the meteors come from (comet Swift-Tuttle) and it should be fairly easy to see them during this time.
The Perseid Meteor Shower will be peaking on August 12th and 13th.
MK Feeney/Flickr During the peak time, the moon will be not be visible during the time the meteors show up, so the sky will be completely dark and perfect for spotting meteors. On these days there should be around 60-70 meteors crossing the sky every hour!
You definitely don’t want to miss the Perseid meteor shower this year, so on during August you definitely will want to take a drive out to the dark and quiet countryside of North Dakota to get a glimpse of this amazing natural phenomenon.
Paladin27/Flickr
What are your plans on viewing the meteor shower this year? You can learn more about the Dakota Nights Astronomy Festival, which will be happening after the shower but is still a total blast to experience, by clicking here.
Jimmy Emerson/Flickr
North Dakota has one of the lowest amounts of light pollution in the entire country, thanks to our smaller cities and most of the land being devoted to farming and ranching. Without that light pollution and with the wide open prairie sky, you get one of the most spectacular places to stargaze. Throw in a meteor shower and you’ve got the perfect show!
Justin Kern/Flickr
This park even hosts an annual stargazing festival known as the Dakota Nights Astronomy Festival. This year, it will be taking place from September 7-9.
Sam DeLong/Flickr
The meteors from this shower should start showing up between July 17 and August 24. North Dakota is right in the viewing path of the comet the meteors come from (comet Swift-Tuttle) and it should be fairly easy to see them during this time.
MK Feeney/Flickr
During the peak time, the moon will be not be visible during the time the meteors show up, so the sky will be completely dark and perfect for spotting meteors. On these days there should be around 60-70 meteors crossing the sky every hour!
Paladin27/Flickr
You can’t get to nighttime without a sunset, and the Peace Garden State certainly has the prettiest ones!
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