HARRISONBURG, Va. (WHSV) – We’ve been talking about observing Comet NEOWISE for about a week and you may also have noticed two of the brightest planets to see in summer, Jupiter and Saturn. Tonight, we also have two passes from the International Space Station again.
Unfortunately we will be fighting some clouds tonight. It won’t be completely cloudy, but for some of us, it will obstruct the view.
Tonight the comet will be visible until 11pm, but by Friday it will be visible until midnight. I wouldn’t count on seeing it on Thursday with storms and more clouds in the area. If you want an even better view, try to stay away from light pollution. If you are southeast of one of our cities, you may have some display issues or it just won’t be as bright as if you were in a darker area.
COMET NEOWISE: visible after sunset looking northwest.
- Sunset: 8:36 pm
- It won’t be visible until around 9:30 pm once the sky darkens a bit
- Comet NEOWISE will establish itself, so it will be lower on the horizon, but will rise higher each night. Tonight, it should be visible until 11 pm
- You may need binoculars to detect it. As the sky darkens and you can pick the Big Dipper, Comet NEOWISE will be right below that.
- Comet NEOWISE now has two visible tails, making it a pretty spectacular sight.
INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION: STEP 1
- 9:13 pm Visible for 6 minutes – Start looking southwest. Stays below 45 ° on the horizon as it moves from east to northeast
INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION: STEP 2
- 10:50 pm visible for 5 minutes – start looking west, but will stay very low, closer to the horizon as you travel northeast
PLANETS:
Saturn and Jupiter are at their brightest at this time and can be seen every night. Planets become visible as the sky darkens enough after sunset. Look in the south-southeast part of the sky. The planets are rising, so they will get quite high in the sky later in the night. You can also see 4 of Jupiter’s moons. Jupiter has 53 moons, but NASA says scientists believe Jupiter can have up to 79 moons.
We can only see the 4 largest moons, called Galilean moons. Io, Europe, Ganymede and Callisto. On rare dark nights, you can see all 4 moons with the naked eye, but they can be easily seen with a telescope or zoomed in on a camera.
These photos were taken just a few days ago.
We would love to see your Comet NEOWISE photos, you can send them here:
More than anything, just enjoy the view. Hopefully some clouds won’t spoil anything. The absolute best opportunities to see the comet will be on Friday and Saturday nights. It will be visible from approximately 9:30 pm until at least midnight. Happy viewing!
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