Keep Your Eyes On The Outstanding Wyoming Night Sky

The skies above Wyoming have been a hot topic over the last couple of weeks, and that's not going to change anytime soon.

You're missing out if you're not following the National Weather Service in Riverton on social media. They regularly release informative videos that explain weather, forecasts, and other exciting events in great detail.

In a recent Facebook post, NWS Meteorologist Chris Hattings released a video explaining a nova that will be visible in the night skies of Wyoming over the next few months. Chris does a great job of describing what's going on when an extensive weather system is moving through the area, and his skill of explaining continues with the description of the upcoming Nova.

The Nova, which Chris describes as being a star that increases in light and then fades away, is part of the Corona Borealis Constellation. This particular Nova will only occur about every 79 years, meaning it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Living in Wyoming, we can experience these rare occurrences more often because of the low light pollution. If you drive outside of town for a few minutes, you'll have a fantastic view of all the night sky has to offer.

If you're not familiar with the constellations, the video provides step-by-step instructions on how to find them.

• Go to a dark place
• Find the Milky Way, and then look to the right. You'll see the large red-orange star named Arcturus.
• Look left of Arcturus for the Corona Borealis Constellation, which is an arc of stars.
• The Nova will be just below the Corona Borealis.

If you love looking at the stars and want to know what you're looking at, check out the Astronomy Shorts - T Corona Borealis Nova video and follow NWS-Riverton on Facebook for future videos.