Meteor Hunting in San Francisco Tonight? Good Luck.

Sacre bleu!

​Get ready for some serious galactic debris, San Francisco. According to NASA, the peak visibility of the Perseids meteor shower will come tonight around midnight (most visible after the moon sets), revealing dozens of streaming fireballs across the night sky every hour until dawn. Sound romantic? It would be. If only we could see it.

Although various forecasts are predicting a clear night in San Francisco for the show, all signs (i.e. looking out the window) point to the opposite. Plus, the lights never really go down in the city, despite what Journey tells us. Our skies may be darker here than they are in Vegas, but San Francisco definitely has just as much light pollution as it has very small dogs -- if not more. Perhaps next year the city could coincide one of those fun "Lights Out" events on the same night as a meteor shower. 

Getting out of town is one way to go. But anyone unwilling to make the schlep to Mount Diablo, Mount Tam, or Sonoma might want to check the view from Lands End, Ocean Beach, Chrissy Field, Twin Peaks, or the Merced Manor Reservoir. If any SF Weekly readers know of secret dark places for primo stargazing, feel free to leave the rest of us some hints.