Bright comet appears in sky before dawn

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Bright comet appears in sky before dawn

A photo of Comet NEOWISE taken on the morning of July 5, from Puimichel, southern France, with a Samsung Galaxy S10 mobile phone! Image credit: Dany Cardoen

 

 

The brightest comet for many years is making an appearance in the morning sky, to the delight of amateur astronomers.

 

Comet NEOWISE has just survived a close flight past the Sun, and emerged into the dawn twilight. It is best seen from the northern hemisphere.

 

It is shining at a comparable brightness to the brightest stars, and it is sporting a stubby tail which shows itself in photos, despite the onset of dawn. Estimates put its brightness

 

at around -1 to +1 magnitude.

 

The comet was photographed from Puimichel, in the Alpes de Hautes Provence region of France, on the morning of July 5, by Dany Cardoen, using his Samsung Galaxy S10

 

mobile phone! He told Skymania: “I saw the comet’s tail rise above the horizon followed by the core. Its magnitude, I think, was about -1 in my binoculars.”

 

The presence of all-night twilight near mid-summer at northern latitudes means the comet is not as obvious to spot as it would be in a really dark sky. It is also still quite low in

 

the sky before sunrise.

 

However, the comet – whose full name is C/2020 F3 NEOWISE – will gradually become better placed over the coming days as it moves away from the Sun. Its extreme orbit, which

 

brought it in from the depths of the Solar System to round the Sun, is now carrying it back out into deep space.

 

The track of Comet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) during July 2020. The track markers are for 0h UT each day, and in the format Month-Day. Click on chart to view full-size. Image credit

 

Skymania using Cartes du Ciel software.

 

But as it recedes from the Sun, Comet NEOWISE is actually getting closer to the Earth. It will be at its nearest to us on July 23, at a distance of 103 million km. So astronomers are

 

hopeful that it will continue to be a nice bright sight for a while yet.

 

The comet’s track is currently carrying it between the constellations of Auriga and Gemini, so in early July you will have to look to the north-east, a little way beneath the bright

 

star Capella, to find it.

 

Binoculars will be very helpful in finding it, even if the comet is just visible in the brightening twilight.

 

During the rest of July, Comet NEOWISE will head through Lynx and into Ursa Major, passing beneath the familiar asterism of seven bright stars known as the Big Dipper, or the

 

Plough. This will keep it low in the sky before dawn, but it will increasingly be visible earlier in the night, in a darker sky.

 

By the third week of July, the comet will be on view all night long and stargazers will be able to view it before going to bed, rather than having to get out of their warm beds before

 

dawn!

 

The Moon will be New on July 20, which means there will be no moonlight to spoil the view. Amateur astronomers are hoping the comet will still then be bright enough to see

 

with the unaided eye. Binoculars will make observing it much easier.

 

The UK’s Society for Popular Astronomy also has a useful guide to observing and photographing comets.

 

 

 

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