NASA Ambassador

3 weeks ago | wral.com | Tony Rice |NASA Ambassador

WRAL meteorologist Chris Michaels alerted us to possible auroa tonight (Sunday, June 1). A coronal mass ejection (CME) erupted from the surface of the Sun early Saturday morning, as observed by the LASCO instrument aboard NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory. The halo, or "smoke-ring," effect indicated to forecasters that the CME was headed toward Earth, prompting a geomagnetic storm warning from NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC).

2 months ago | wral.com | Tony Rice |NASA Ambassador

Venus, Saturn, and the Moon will be far more separated during Friday April 25th "lunar smile" than is being depicted in social media. Social media has been a buzz this week about an event Friday morning before sunrise. The Moon will pass near Venus and Saturn. It will look pretty cool, but not that cool. In reality, Venus and Jupiter wont be close enough to each other or the Moon to match the images you have been seeing online.

Mar 22, 2025 | wral.com | Tony Rice |NASA Ambassador

A meteor was seen streaking across the Carolina skies early Saturday morning. Residents across four states — from central Virginia to Charleston South Carolina and from eastern Tennessee to the outerbanks — reported seeing the space rock to the American Meteor Society. Based on triangulation of those reports, the meteor was first seen over Greensboro traveling nearly due south toward Asheboro.

Oct 29, 2024 | wral.com | Tony Rice |NASA Ambassador

An artist's rendention of a red giant star and white dwarf orbiting each other steller material flows from the red giant to the denser white dwarf. (NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center)About every 80 years, the T Coronae Borealis star system – or T CrB for short – explodes violently, relighting a long dead star. Earlier this year there were strong indications that T CrB was ready to create this new visible star for a few days. This hasn't happened yet, but history suggests it's just a matter of time.

Oct 11, 2024 | wral.com | Tony Rice |NASA Ambassador |Monica Casey |John Rector

It was a colorful display Thursday across North Carolina skies as a geomagnetic storm triggered northern lights in the United States -- and a few people may be able to see the wonder again Friday night. WRAL meteorologist Aimee Wilmoth said, for most of the U.S., the northern lights will not be visible again Friday night. The line of maximum visibility Friday night is in the far northern portion of the country, as visible in this map.