This month offers your only chance to see a 3-mile-wide comet called Neowise as it shoots past Earth. The space ice ball and its brightly colored tails are expected to hit maximum brightness this week.
Neowise came from the outer reaches of our solar system. Its orbit brought it dangerously close to the sun on July 3, 10 million miles closer than Mercury’s orbit, but Neowise survived and headed for Earth. It is now visible to the naked eye throughout the northern hemisphere.
The comet is expected to get closer to our planet on July 23, approaching about 64 million miles, according to NASA. But this week, from now until Sunday, can provide the best opportunity to see it in the sky.
Then it will shoot up again, toward the edges of the sun’s range. It will not return to the inner solar system for 6,768 years.
How to spot Neowise
Neowise flies behind Mount Shasta in an eight-second landscape photo taken by Jesse Smith on Friday.
Copyright Jesse Smith
Until now, many kite viewers have had to stay up all night or wake up before sunrise to see Neowise soar above the horizon. But according to Space.com, the comet’s “prime time” observation hours will arrive in the afternoon this week, about 80 minutes after sunset.
To catch the space ice ball and its divided tails of white powder and blue ionized gas, look closely at the horizon.
If you’re an early riser, Neowise should also appear before sunrise, about 10 degrees above the northeast horizon, which is about the width of your clenched fist if you hold it with your arm outstretched. It will drop in the next few days, to about 5 degrees on Saturday. After that it will be too low to see in the mornings.
Neowise appears above St. Mark’s Tower, a 17th-century coastal fortification near the village of Bahar ic-Caghaq, Malta, on Sunday.
Darrin Zammit Lupi / Reuters
However, after sunset, the comet will be higher in the sky and easier to see as the week progresses. By Sunday, it will hang 20 degrees (two fists) above the horizon. Neowise rises in the northwest in the afternoons.
You won’t need a telescope or binoculars: Neowise is visible to the naked eye in dark skies. It is easier to see if you are away from the bright lights of the city.
