Comet and meteor shower to light up central NC sky for next few weeks

RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — Sky gazers have been spoiled the past few weeks, from the Aurora last week, now a photogenic comet and a meteor shower.

Let’s start with Comet C/2023 A3, also known as Tsuchinshan ATLAS. This comet has been around for a long time, but it was only just discovered in the last year.

Below are a few pictures from NASA from when the comet was visible last month in the southern hemisphere, taken from the International Space Station.

Through roughly October 24 folks in central North Carolina will be able to see this comet after sunset if you look west along the horizon.

The comet is expected to get higher in the sky each evening, but it will also be getting dimmer each day as the comet moves away from us.

There’s a chance you’ll be able to see it with your naked eye, but you’ll have a better chance with binoculars or a telescope if you have one. Remember, if you snap a picture of this comet (and some of you already have!) send it to us at Report It .

Comets are basically giant rocks that orbit the Sun. When their orbit takes them close to the sun they heat up, and then dust and gases form a tail that can stretch millions of miles away from the Sun.

It’s a comet tail that brings us to our next sky-gazing event, the Orionid meteor shower.

We see the Orionid Meteor Shower every year around this time. It should peak around October 20, but it’s been going for the past few weeks and will continue into the middle of November.

These meteors are debris from the tail of Halley’s Comet. While we don’t see Halley’s comet every year, around this time every year the Earth moves through the debris field, prompting the Orionid Meteor shower.

The best time to view the shower will be the mornings of October 20th and 21st from midnight through the pre-dawn hours.

Unfortunately, we will be dealing with light pollution from the full moon just a few days before, so we may not be able to see as many as in previous years but it’s still worth going to check it out.

Happy sky gazing!

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