Comet NEOWISE C/2020 F3

[carolinarider09]

Something else to see while at InZane 2020.

Comet NEOWISE visibility: Dates

By around Jul 11, the comet will reach an altitude of nearly 10 degrees. Over the next 10 days, it will slide back down towards the north-east horizon gradually. Eventually, the comet will disappear from dawn visibility.
On July 12, a better viewing perspective will become available. During the evening sky, the comet will appear low in the northwest sky. The following evenings, the comet will rapidly climb higher in the sky.
NEOWISE will be the closest the Earth on July 22nd. It will be visible to skywatchers from the closest distance as the NEOWISE comet will be at about 64 million miles (103 million KM) away from the earth. It will give a fascinating view to skywatchers.
Another date that NEOWISE comet will reportedly be visible to the skywatchers is July 25th. The comet shall appear 30 degrees up from the west-northwest horizon as the sun sets. The NEOWISE comet will be visible again for spotting in the sky on the 30-31st of July.  According to a media portal, the comet will be passing just to the north of the fine star cluster of Coma Berenices or Berenice's Hair.

[Moonshot_1]

Something else to see while at InZane 2020.

Comet NEOWISE visibility: Dates

By around Jul 11, the comet will reach an altitude of nearly 10 degrees. Over the next 10 days, it will slide back down towards the north-east horizon gradually. Eventually, the comet will disappear from dawn visibility.
On July 12, a better viewing perspective will become available. During the evening sky, the comet will appear low in the northwest sky. The following evenings, the comet will rapidly climb higher in the sky.
NEOWISE will be the closest the Earth on July 22nd. It will be visible to skywatchers from the closest distance as the NEOWISE comet will be at about 64 million miles (103 million KM) away from the earth. It will give a fascinating view to skywatchers.
Another date that NEOWISE comet will reportedly be visible to the skywatchers is July 25th. The comet shall appear 30 degrees up from the west-northwest horizon as the sun sets. The NEOWISE comet will be visible again for spotting in the sky on the 30-31st of July.  According to a media portal, the comet will be passing just to the north of the fine star cluster of Coma Berenices or Berenice's Hair.

Pretty sure this is fake news. This is 2020. Pretty sure on July 22nd it will obliterate the earth. The upside is we'll finally be rid of the Covid virus. So at least there is that.

[carolinarider09]

Image from local amateur astronomer and his write up. 

From Hap Griffin

Comet C/2020 F3 NEOWISE this morning. I met my friend Sandy Laney from the local camera club near the town of Lone Star where there is a huge open field with a low northeastern horizon. I arrived at 4:15 after getting lost and quickly found the tail extending just above the tree line. A few minutes later and the comet's coma rose above the trees and by then the entire comet was naked eye visible. I have several sequences of images and will make an animation later today. By 5:15, the comet was becoming lost in the brightening sky. This is the first naked eye comet we've had available to us since the 90's, and it is well worth getting out to see it.

[Valkorado]

I love these kind of astronomical events.  They remind me that no matter how badly mankind navigates our ship of fools, the Big Guy remains in charge...

[hubcapsc]

I just hope that any of the fields at our place are big enough that I can
get far enough away from the woods for the comet to show up for me.
I don't think it will ever be very high in the sky...

-Mike

[carolinarider09]

I will see what I can find for predicted height during the week and time of day. 

Back when I was active in astrophotography, I did get some pictures.  Bad news is I lost the name of one of them. 

The first one is 1997 and its Hale-Bopp (back in the day when they were found by comet hunters not machines). 



This one I don't have the name for.  Same time frame 1990's.

[carolinarider09]

Information on visibility during InZane.

Comet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) has been up at dawn. By mid July (around July 12-15), the comet will become visible at dusk (just after sunset), low in the northwest horizon. (Still trying to verify this). 

The moon may cause some issues since it will be in third quarter and will not set until after 1300 on the 12th, and 1700 on the 16th. 

Asheville's lights may pose a problem for local viewing but as I understand it they have worked on liming light pollution but, I have not done any further research.   

[carolinarider09]

Location of Comet NEOWISE at 8:30 PM on July 15th, 2020, at least according to my program.

[carolinarider09]

Ok.  I should have checked Sky & Telescopes website first, but its been awhile since I visited there.  The link below provides a good chart of where the comet will be.  You have to scroll down about halfway to see the sky charts.

https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/observing-news/comet-neowise-delights-at-dawn/?fbclid=IwAR1MeaR6INR6jJy6hqZw7gQh9gxTf2aBX0AyAnBBUVSngWfsTw702vZO880

[RP#62]

Thanks for posting.

-RP

[The emperor has no clothes]

My wife got my grandson a telescope last Christmas. He and his Dad put it together and looked for stuff. I don`t think it was a big hit, because I never heard much about it. Anyway, after your post a couple weeks back we started looking for it. Because of how each of our houses are located we could never see it till it raised in the evening sky. It was pretty cool, you can see it with the naked eye if you know where to look. I had no idea setting up and using a telescope properly was so complicated though. Thanks for posting it up. We enjoyed the stargazing.

For anyone who hasn`t seen it, you still have couple days. A good pair of binoculars or a spotting scope works best. 

[John Schmidt]

I stopped at a family member's house which is on an old farmsted. They just own the bldgs., not the farm. We went out into an adjacent corn field and could barely make it out without binoculars, but with them it was real clear. Five miles out in the country that corn field was really dark. Was so hot and humid you could hear the corn grow also.

[carolinarider09]

John,

I have tried to see it here and, from my amateur astronomy friends, I learned it was very faint.  Not really the "naked eye" comet it has been billed as.

I have seen a couple of naked eye comets and they are spectacular.

Meathead.,

What generally happens is that we buy our kids a small refractor telescope on a tripod.  Its what I got back when I first started in the late 50's.   

However,  today, for just a few bucks more you can get something that you can really use to see stuff.  Galaxies, open clusters, other stuff. 

I just looked on line to see if I could find a reference for you but, they all look sort of "weird".   But here is one for reference

https://www.highpointscientific.com/apertura-dt8-8-inch-dobsonian-telescope?utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cse&utm_term=APT-DT8&msclkid=2d40bb48eb001b50b625e452c3f850fa

I can't  find a picture of my 10" Dobsonian scope.  I will post one tomorrow.  What I am about to say may seem "weird" but its true.

Making your own telescope is a straight forward process.  What you need is time, and attention to detail. 

All the parts to make an 8" Dob are available on line.  If you can find a local astronomy club, they will help.  The best part is when you make your own, its yours. 

Its a fiberglass or aluminum tube, a couple of internal things, some plywood for the mount and some formica and teflon pads to make it easy to move. 

And oh yes, a finder, not a finder scope, but something like this. 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0000ALKAN?tag=duckduckgo-d-20&linkCode=osi&th=1&psc=1

You look through the back end up into the sky and you see some red circles superimposed on the sky.  With that and this, you just point and look. 

https://www.amazon.com/Finder-charts-Messier-objects-set/dp/B0006S18Y8

I am very serious in saying that you can make your own reflector mirror if you want.  You just need a 55 gallon drum and some specific grading compounds and .... 

Remember the problem they had with the Hubble Telescope.  They used some fancy computer program to measure the mirrors surface.  If they had used the device invented by a French dud in 1858, they would not have had the issue.  An old spice can, a couple of razor blades and a micrometer (well you need a track and wooden block and screw thing) is what you need to measure the mirrors's surface to very precise measurements. 

And the best news is, that is all fun and learning and when you get done you have a jam up telescope. 

Back in the 60's the recommended you build a six inch reflector.  I can tell you that the work required to build a six inch Dob is the same as required to build an 8" Dob and you can even go to a 10" mirror with little more work.  After that, well its up hill. 

I have a 24" Dob.  It was fun to make and is a great telescope. 

Sorry for the long post. 

Oh, and one more thing, doing it your self is a learning experience you will never forget.   And every time you take it out, you know its yours 

[The emperor has no clothes]

Thanks for the info. I don`t think I have the patience to build one though. This is the one my wife got him.
https://www.highpointscientific.com/brands/celestron/celestron-telescopes/celestron-astromaster-114-eq-4-5-equatorial-reflector-telescope-31042

[Pluggy]

The articles indicated look to the right of the Big Dipper and then halfway to the horizon.  The stripe of light I saw Tuesday night was left of the Dipper, and binoculars showed the comet.  There are some great photos of it, but in my stargazer binoculars it was not spectacular.  It was a little brighter last night.  I was pleased enough just to find it.

[carolinarider09]

Ok... well if you do, just ask questions.  

Take off that look through finder and mount a Telrad unit and buy the books.  He will find it easier to find stuff.  

Stick with the 20mm eyepiece, larger view of the sky and deep sky objects are big.  Higher magnification (using the 10mm eyepiece) just makes it harder to see the galaxies and clusters.  They are big (ok big is relative I know   )

On my 24" Dob, I usually use a 20mm eyepiece with is about 120 power.  I use a 35mm when I have something big to look at.  

Here is a picture of the 24" DOB



And the 12.5" in the observatory.  

[The emperor has no clothes]

  That`s badass ! 

[Pluggy]

I stopped at a family member's house which is on an old farmsted. They just own the bldgs., not the farm. We went out into an adjacent corn field and could barely make it out without binoculars, but with them it was real clear. Five miles out in the country that corn field was really dark. Was so hot and humid you could hear the corn grow also.

If we were back in Orlando, we wouldn't have seen it.  It never got really dark there.

[carolinarider09]

Thanks!

And you would be surprised how easy the 24" Dob is to move.  When I take to star parties and let the regular people climb the ladder and look through it, they all get a chance to move it to keep it on the object.   Most are impressed as to how easy and smoothly it moves.  

Not my design but John Dobson's

[John Schmidt]

I stopped at a family member's house which is on an old farmsted. They just own the bldgs., not the farm. We went out into an adjacent corn field and could barely make it out without binoculars, but with them it was real clear. Five miles out in the country that corn field was really dark. Was so hot and humid you could hear the corn grow also.

If we were back in Orlando, we wouldn't have seen it.  It never got really dark there.

Stu, that's so true. I got a picture of the Haley comet some years back but had to go out into the country halfway to Titusville on SR50 then on to a side road a mile or so. Actually kinda creepy out there at 2:00am. 

[Jack B]

Last Sunday we were watching the comet and the the space station also was visible it was the first time we saw it very cool it took 10-15 minutes for it to cross the sky.

[Pluggy]

Last Sunday we were watching the comet and the the space station also was visible it was the first time we saw it very cool it took 10-15 minutes for it to cross the sky.

Jack, you sure were in the right place at the right time.  There was only a small patch of our planet where one could observe that.  For a limited time only....  Comet + 15 minutes of space station is like a starwatcher's lottery win.