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This spooky season, look up at the sky to witness celestial wonders

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:

Now for your well-being. Why not walk outside and look up? This month, two comets will brighten and travel the night sky. The comets, called SWAN and Lemmon, were discovered just this year. When they travel close to the sun, the heat makes them release gas and dust, which gives them that beautiful trail.

SWAN is expected to come within 24 million miles of our blue planet a week from today, and Lemmon will be 55 million miles away two days later. But that's just when they'll be the closest. They may both be visible at the same time around Halloween, a treat that puts Moon Pies to shame.

And if you're more into sparkles than streaks, there's the Orionid meteor shower, peaking overnight October 20 to 21st. Find the darkest skies you can, let your eyes adjust, and look up toward the southeast. And don't be surprised if a comet joins the party.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

Hadeel Al-Shalchi
Hadeel al-Shalchi is an editor with Weekend Edition. Prior to joining NPR, Al-Shalchi was a Middle East correspondent for the Associated Press and covered the Arab Spring from Tunisia, Bahrain, Egypt, and Libya. In 2012, she joined Reuters as the Libya correspondent where she covered the country post-war and investigated the death of Ambassador Chris Stephens. Al-Shalchi also covered the front lines of Aleppo in 2012. She is fluent in Arabic.
Ayesha Rascoe
Ayesha Rascoe is the host of Weekend Edition Sunday and the Saturday episodes of Up First. As host of the morning news magazine, she interviews news makers, entertainers, politicians and more about the stories that everyone is talking about or that everyone should be talking about.