Comet Neowise visible from NYC this week

Skywatchers and astronomers across the Northern Hemisphere are in for one heck of a treat over the next week. Comet Neowise, a retrograde comet which passed close to the sun on July 3rd, 2020, is the brightest comet visible from earth in the last 23 years.

The comet has brightened by 100 times over the past two weeks, and is expected to continue brightening in the past few days. It is clearly visible in the evening and early morning skies across the Northeast United States, and will remain that way until next week. From that point forward, the comet will begin to fade away – and won’t be seen again for another 6,800 years.

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Annual Orionid meteor shower peaks late tonight

Favorable viewing conditions are anticipated for the peak of the Orionid meteor shower tonight, as Earth passes through the debris field of Haley’s comet. The annual meteor shower occurs with varying intensities, but astronomers struggle to differentiate between individual “Forecasts” for the amount of meteors streaking through the night sky. Instead, the shower remains relatively variable and dependent on the density of debris that the Earth passes through.

Regardless, the weather tonight is expected to cooperate. A frontal boundary will be situated well to our north, and our area will remain generally under high pressure. While there could be a few clouds moving in and out of the area, there certainly won’t be any overcast conditions — or low clouds, like the ones that obscured our view of the lunar eclipse last month.

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Draconid meteor shower peaks tonight, storms tomorrow

While the focus usually remains set on the “bigger” meteor showers of the year (see: Perseids), the Draconid meteor shower is drawing some additional attention this season, mostly due to the anticipated favorable weather conditions. The annual meteor shower produces, on average, between 10 and 20 meteors per hour during its peak intensity. The peak of the shower occurs from tonight, October 8th, through Friday morning, October 9th.

Weather conditions are expected to be favorable for viewing — at least for the first several hours. While a frontal system will be approaching late, the peak of the meteor shower actually occurs during nightfall and the early evening hours. This is somewhat atypical, as most meteor showers feature pre-dawn peaks, making viewing less ideal for those who can’t set the alarms for 3:00am. Tonight, the timing and weather conditions look good, so we suggest heading outside and away from the city lights if you have some time.

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Colorful clouds could appear tonight after NASA rocket launch

NASA will launch a sounding rocket from it’s Wallops Island, VA facility tonight, and the result of intentional testing after the rocket deploys could bring a colorful cloud into the night sky from Virginia to Long Island.

Between 7 and 9pm (no specific time has yet been set), NASA will launch the suborbital rocket. Approximately 6 minutes after launch, the sounding rocket will deploy four sub-payloads containing “mixtures of barium and strontium”.

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