A photo of Comet NEOWISE taken from the BYU-Idaho Observatory in Rexburg. The | Courtesy of Jon Paul Johnson.
The following is a press release from Sky and Telescope.
IDAHO FALLS: An unexpected heavenly newcomer, after falling into the Sun for over 3,000 years, is making a charming appearance in our skies right now. You can see it for yourself very low in the northeast as sunrise begins to brighten, and in the evening after sunset less than a week ago, but you will need to know exactly where and what to look for, and binoculars will help.
Comet NEOWISE is named after the NASA infrared space telescope that discovered it on March 27. Officially designated C / 2020 F3, it passed just 27.4 million miles from the Sun (within Mercury’s orbit) on July 3 and has come to light on the horizon early in the morning.
It was well positioned for sky watchers at mid-north latitudes (including most of the United States, Canada, and Europe) during the mornings from July 10-14. The further north it is, the better.
“The comet was easily seen with the naked eye the morning of July 9,” says Sean Walker, associate editor for Sky & Telescope. “I was able to see the tail curve without optical help, about 3 degrees long.”
Comet NEOWISE gradually fades as it moves away from the sun, but in the meantime, it gets closer to Earth. The comet will be closer to Earth, 64 million miles away, on July 23.
FIND THE COMET: JULY 14 AND AFTER
From day 14 onward, the comet’s movement will have displaced its best viewing opportunity into the night sky. By then, the NEOWISE comet will no longer be visible to the naked eye, but the glimpse of it improves if you can find a place free of light pollution.
Start looking around 1 hour after sunset, when you find it just above the northwest horizon as the last twilight fades into darkness. Look around three fists below the bottom of the Big Dipper, which hangs from its handle above it, and perhaps a little to the right from there.
Every night thereafter, the comet will darken, but it will also rise as twilight ends. On the night of the 23rd, when Comet NEOWISE is closest to Earth, locate it by first observing the two stars at the bottom of the Big Dipper bowl. Then draw an imaginary line through them and into the lower left corner to a point in the sky just over a fist away. But by that time, you will surely need binoculars or a telescope.
Do you want to try taking photos? Bring a tripod and camera that can take time exposures of several seconds in length. Unfortunately, even the best phone cameras will give mediocre results. What you really want is a digital SLR camera with a telephoto lens.
This graph shows the appearance of Comet NEOWISE on the nights of July 14-23. The | Courtesy of Sky & Telescope
