Friday, January 11th, 7:30 pm
Lienhard Hall, Pace University, Pleasantville

In the aftermath of the “Great American Solar Eclipse of 2017,” many were led to believe that there would be no more “astronomical spectaculars” until the next total solar eclipse over the US in 2024.  In this talk, however, Joe Rao will explain that there are several celestial occurrences that are coming our way between now and 2022 that more than qualify as “head-turning” events.  In fact, a couple of cases are literally once-in-a-lifetime sky shows. And the best thing of all is that you won’t need to make any arduous (or expensive) journeys to remote parts of the world: all of these events are accessible from our own backyards.

Now if he can only guarantee good weather…

Speaking of weather, Joe Rao is an 8-time Emmy nominated broadcast meteorologist. Last June he celebrated his 40th anniversary in broadcasting, having started out in radio and later (in 1995) going full time on television as Chief Meteorologist at News 12 Westchester.  At the end of 2016, Joe made the switch to Verizon Fios1 News where he is based today.  Joe is also an assiduous amateur astronomer, having been actively involved in astronomy for over 50 years.  Since 1986 he has served as an Associate at the Hayden Planetarium and is currently a Contributing Editor for Sky & Telescope.  He also writes about astronomy and space for the online news service Space.com, as well as for Natural History magazine and The Farmers’ Almanac.  In 2008, Joe was the recipient of the Solar Physics Division Popular Writing Award of the American Astronomical Society and in 2009 received the prestigious Walter Scott Houston Award from the Northeast Region of the Astronomical League.

Socialializing with fellow WAA members and guests begins at 7:00 pm!

Free and open to the public.