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Comet Neowise Could be a "Great" One. Here's How to Catch It Throughout July

posted by takyon on Thursday July 09 2020, @10:51PM   Printer-friendly
from the no-comet dept.

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:

Comet Neowise could be a 'great' one. Here's how to catch it throughout July:

Comet Neowise looks like it could be the real deal. After two other comets discovered in 2020 -- Swan and Atlas -- looked promising but then fizzled and faded away without ever putting on much of a show, Comet C/2020 F3 (aka Neowise) seems poised to deliver.

[...] According to NASA solar system ambassador Eddie Irizarry, it should remain visible just before and around the time of first light until July 11. The comet will then dip below the horizon as it transitions from being an early riser to a cocktail hour sensation, hopefully. It'll start to be visible again in the evening around July 15-16. It should be a little easier to see during the second half of July when it's a little higher in the sky. Until that point it'll be closer to the northeastern horizon.

[...] The comet's closest pass by Earth will be July 23, which might make for a particularly exciting viewing opportunity if the comet's brightness continues to hold where it is or even intensifies. It'll also rise a little higher in the sky on July 24 and 25 in case you miss the actual flyby date. Comets are notoriously fickle things that could always break up and burn out at any moment, so fingers crossed.

There's a possibility, for the most optimistic of us, that Neowise might brighten dramatically to become a so-called "great comet" that's easily visible and spectacular to see with the naked eye. While there's no strict definition of what a great comet is, it's generally agreed that we haven't seen one since Hale-Bopp in 1997.

See also: Anticipation Grows for Comets NEOWISE and Lemmon
Where is Comet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE)?

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  • (Score: 2) by PiMuNu on Friday July 10 2020, @02:44PM (5 children)

    by PiMuNu (3823) on Friday July 10 2020, @02:44PM (#1019078)

    > the arena of Platonic Ideas

    I believe you are getting things confused with a cave.

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  • (Score: 2) by aristarchus on Friday July 10 2020, @11:31PM (4 children)

    by aristarchus (2645) on Friday July 10 2020, @11:31PM (#1019267) Journal

    The point of Plato's cave is the crawling out of it, into the true light of celestial bodies? Like this. [duckduckgo.com] But also this attitude is found in Boethius' De philosophiae consolatione, [wikisource.org]

    O stelliferi conditor orbis,
    Qui perpetuo nixus solio
    Rapido caelum turbine uersas
    Legemque pati sidera cogis,
    Ut nunc pleno lucida cornu
    Totis fratris obuia flammis
    Condat stellas luna minores,
    Nunc obscuro pallida cornu
    Phoebo propior lumina perdat
    Et qui primae tempore noctis
    Agit algentes Hesperos ortus
    Solitas iterum mutet habenas
    Phoebi pallens Lucifer ortu.
    Tu frondifluae frigore brumae
    Stringis lucem breuiore mora,
    Tu cum feruida uenerit aestas
    Agiles nocti diuidis horas.
    Tua uis uarium temperat annum,
    Ut quas Boreae spiritus aufert
    Reuehat mites Zephyrus frondes,
    Quaeque Arcturus semina uidit
    Sirius altas urat segetes:
    Nihil antiqua lege solutum
    Linquit propriae stationis opus.
    Omnia certo fine gubernans
    Hominum solos respuis actus
    Merito rector cohibere modo.
    Nam cur tantas lubrica uersat
    Fortuna uices?

    [Liber Primus, X]