Comet NEOWISE could give skywatchers a dazzling show this month. Here's what to know.
By Joe Rao 15 hours ago
Astrophotographer Chris Schur captured this view of Comet NEOWISE F3 from Payson, Arizona
before dawn on July 5, 2020. (Image credit: Chris Schur/Chris Schur Astrophotography)
Earlier this year, the NEOWISE space telescope discovered its latest comet, a distant and inconspicuous object.
At the time of its discovery on March 27, the comet — dubbed Comet NEOWISE (short for Near Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer) and cataloged as C/2020 F3, was located 194 million miles (312 million kilometers) from the sun and shining at a very faint magnitude of +17 — that's about 25,000 times fainter than the faintest star that can be glimpsed with the naked eye. It was only visible with large telescopes.
But in July, Comet NEOWISE has raised hopes that it will become a tantalizing object for skywatchers after two previous comets (ATLAS and SWAN) fizzled out earlier this year.
When we talk about the comet's brightness below, we'll be discussing its magnitude — a measurement of an object's brightness in the sky. The lower the magnitude, the brighter the object. The brightest stars in the sky are zero or first magnitude. The faintest stars visible to the eye on dark, clear nights are sixth magnitude. First magnitude stars are 100 times brighter than those of sixth magnitude.
More:
https://www.space.com/comet-neowise-july-2020-night-sky-forecast.html?utm_source=notification
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I don't have an unobstructed view of sunrise at this time of the year. I was out this morning before dawn, but I wasn't thinking of looking for comets. Now I know.
Comet Neowise Delights at Dawn
By: Bob King July 8, 2020
Skywatchers are treated to a naked-eye comet as NEOWISE emerges into the the dawn sky.
Debra Ceravolo captured this stunning portrait of Comet NEOWISE (C/2020 F3) at 4 a.m. on July 8, 2020. She used a 300mm astrograph with a 2700mm focal length to make 160, 1-second stacked exposures. The camera was a SBIG STFSC8050 one shot color CCD cooled to –20° C. The resulting image is very similar to the view in a modest telescope.
Whatever you do, see this comet. I almost couldn't believe my eyes when I pointed a pair of 10 × 50 binoculars at NEOWISE on July 7th at dawn. OMG. What a sumptuous view! The comet's head, a bright, yellow pea, sprouted a 3° pale orange tail that arched upwards in a most elegant way. With the naked eye, I saw a delicate streak of light about 1.5° long with a tiny, star-like coma. The image of a faint meteor jumped to mind.
A gorgeous pictorial view of the comet on July 7, 2020 was made with a 130mm focal length lens.
Fred Espenak
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