Slashdot Mirror
How To View the Antares Launch
An anonymous reader points out NASA's info page on the Anatares rocket launch happening later today. NASA's Wallops Flight Facility and Virginia's Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport are set to support the launch of Orbital Sciences' Antares rocket at 6:45 p.m. EDT, October 27. The Antares rocket will carry Orbital's Cygnus cargo spacecraft, loaded with some 5,000 pounds of supplies and experiments, to the International Space Station. The launch may be visible, weather permitting, to residents throughout the mid-Atlantic and Northeast regions of the United States. Here's a visibility map of launch. Public viewing of the launch will be available at the NASA Visitor Center at Wallops and at the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge/Assateague Island National Seashore. Here's more information about the Visitors Center, including directions, and information on viewing sites recommended by the Eastern Shore of Virginia Tourism Commission. Live coverage of the mission is scheduled to begin at noon on the Wallops Ustream site."
These launches aren't that uncommon, but they're visible from a lot of highly-populated areas, and they're bright enough to see even if you've got a lot of light pollution. If you have a good view of the horizon in the proper direction, check it out.
Looking at the map, it seems like the direction to look from Connecticut will be south/southeast (but mostly south). It first has to rise above the Earth's curvature far enough to be visible from CT, and by that time it's already quite far out to sea to the east. Looks like a similar situation in NJ - it's not going to appear to the southwest.