The Bright Comet in the Sky
An opportunity to watch a bright comet does not come often. The last one was called C/1995 O1 or simply Comet Hale-Bopp. It was visible to the naked eye for 18 months!
The hero of this post is not as bright as Hale-Bopp but also can be seen by naked eye. Comet NEOWISE or C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) is already circumpolar object (in Poland, at the time of writing this post) which means it does not set. It can be seen during whole night over the northern horizon. Comet was discovered March 27, 2020 and two tails (dust and ion) can be seen. The first one by eye and second one in photographs. The nucleus is estimated to be about 5km. As of 16 July brightness was about 2-2.5 mag.
Source: COBS/Crni Vrh Observatory
Recently, I had the opportunity to capture C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) at Bialkow Observatory. Despite the comet’s low altitude, sky in Bialkow is really dark. Along with cloudless nights, conditions for observations were excellent. Below is the photogpraph that I was able to take. Two tails are visible, bright dust one and faint bluish ion tail.
Other photos are present in gallery. I strongly encourage everyone to see this gorgeous comet. ☄️
Comments