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)?
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 09 2020, @11:05PM (11 children)
1. July 16 is 75th anniversary of Trinity test
2. The comet Neowise returns on July 16
3. The Islamic calendar starts on July 16
Conclusion: July 16 is the day President Trump sends the tweet that starts WW3.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 09 2020, @11:23PM (10 children)
In 1974 Comet Kohoutek was supposed to turn earths atmosphere into explosive gases and the world was supposed to end burning. The only thing that happened was President Nixons resignation, but don't think history is going to repeat itself.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 09 2020, @11:43PM (9 children)
The Star called "Wormwood". Revelation 8:10-11:
Some wacko Republican Christian Tin Horn is riffing on this [cbn.com].
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 10 2020, @01:19AM
Xenu will save us in a DC-8.
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Friday July 10 2020, @02:22AM (4 children)
Wow. That is batshit. Surely no adults actually believe that stuff?
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Ethanol-fueled on Friday July 10 2020, @02:38AM (2 children)
Revelation 13:17
In this case the mark, name, and number are given by the Synagogue of Satan which controls all payment systems and public perception. If you don't believe me, ask Alex Jones and all others who did, and who will, suffer his fate.
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Saturday July 11 2020, @02:16AM (1 child)
I don't believe you.
The Book of Revelations was written by someone with mental health problems. Or a drug problem.
(Score: 2) by turgid on Saturday July 11 2020, @10:55AM
Those sorts of visions are often associated with certain types of epilepsy,
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Friday July 10 2020, @02:53AM
Phoenix666 was just asking me what I meant when I said "All this will soon be over." I did not answer him.
(Score: 3, Informative) by stormwyrm on Friday July 10 2020, @02:49AM (2 children)
Numquam ponenda est pluralitas sine necessitate.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 10 2020, @11:09AM
Halley's 1986 was a dud. Do you have any idea how long that was hyped in the news before barely appearing? Decades.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Saturday July 11 2020, @06:05AM
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 5, Informative) by aristarchus on Thursday July 09 2020, @11:09PM
You can see pretty pictures here https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200709.html [nasa.gov]
and here: https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200707.html [nasa.gov]
Enjoy.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by PartTimeZombie on Thursday July 09 2020, @11:13PM (3 children)
I'm busy. I'll wait until it comes back around in 8786.
(Score: 2) by acid andy on Friday July 10 2020, @12:05AM (2 children)
Won't you be a part time skeleton by then though? Maybe there's still time to become a part time mummy!
If a cat has kittens, does a rat have rittens, a bat bittens and a mat mittens?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 10 2020, @12:52AM (1 child)
Jacinda already took that job, that's why he's so salty.
(Score: 2) by acid andy on Friday July 10 2020, @05:19PM
Still, the costs involved these days are no joke. You should see the price of embalming fluid! And I'm still paying back that pyramid seller...
If a cat has kittens, does a rat have rittens, a bat bittens and a mat mittens?
(Score: 3, Informative) by Jiro on Friday July 10 2020, @12:33AM (1 child)
The closest it gets to Earth is 64 million miles. The Earth is 93 million miles from the sun. I hope you can figure out from this that getting closer to Earth isn't going to make it noticeably brighter.
You can see a magnitude graph at this page [aerith.net]. The magnitiude is only going to be going down unless it has some kind of freak unpredictable outburst,
(Score: 2) by aim on Friday July 10 2020, @08:46AM
The comet, right now, looks quite spectacular, judging from the many pictures I've seen in specialist astro groups - yes, the ones on APOD are nice too (specifically today's, not everyone gets to take such a one...).
I missed my chance a few days back when weather would have permitted a view, I'll seize the next opportunity (very early tomorrow morning, hopefully) to take my own pictures. With luck, there'll be some NLCs, one can hope for capturing the ion tail.
You're right though, with time, the comet will get further away from the sun, thus lose its current brightness. That's no reason not to try to see it these next days or weeks.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 10 2020, @03:19AM (1 child)
I remember the one and only comet I've seen, the great comet of 1997. It covered half the sky. I had a memorable (commercial, jet, open cockpit) flight from a job interview at that time, 4 crew, 3 passengers. We could see the comet out of the windows and we were all enjoying it. I thought it was named Hayukatake though.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 10 2020, @08:53PM
Hayukatake and Hale-Bopp came very close in time to each other. They were both awesome sights easily seen by eye. I grew up in the 70s in anticipation of Halley, which was a great dud, then 10 years later these two comets made the wait worth it.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by aristarchus on Friday July 10 2020, @05:35AM (7 children)
Every once in a while I attempt to educate Soylentils. For the most part, it is a thankless task. But here we do have a teachable moment. Why are Comets such bad news? Portents of Doom? Distablizers of the Established Order? Sign of the ascendency of William the Conquer, and equally the descendency of the Donald? There is a reason.
The Reason is Aristotle, and the Church. Supposedly, the "celestial" realms are closer to god. OK, actually this is Gnosticism. But it depends on a common conception of the status of reality. Material existence is the lowest form. Matter just is, and it is "stupid". Comes back into vogue in Existentialism! But the point being that the ethereal plane, the intellectual realm, the arena of Platonic Ideas, well there they obey the laws of thermodynamics, and logic. So if some unexpected heavenly body, especially one with a tail, were to appear in the night sky, it would totally upset the idea that the heavens are more rational that the cthlonic realms were Lady Fortuna holds sway. But, on the other hand, since the heavens are completely rational, for an irrational object like a comet to appear, must mean, something? I predict that Trump's tax returns will be released, and we will all laugh.
But, you see the point? Comets mean that we are part of a not-quite finished planetary system, around old dear Sol, and the future is not determined, as exemplified by Swan and Atlas. With comets, one never knows what will happen. But with sufficent information, we would, and then they would not be so scarey. Unless they are headed straight at the Anus of Runaway1956!!!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 10 2020, @11:14AM
You could switch some of the key words and have modern history...
Covid means that we are part of a not-quite finished biological system, and the future is not determined.
Trump means that we are part of a not-quite finished political system, and the future is not determined.
Pelosi means that we are part of a not-quite finished evolutionary system, and the future is determined.
(Score: 2) by PiMuNu on Friday July 10 2020, @02:44PM (5 children)
> the arena of Platonic Ideas
I believe you are getting things confused with a cave.
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Friday July 10 2020, @11:31PM (4 children)
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]
[Liber Primus, X]
(Score: 3, Funny) by PiMuNu on Saturday July 11 2020, @05:53AM
Oh heady days of my youth! Ubi est Quintus? I hear you cry. Quintus est in cubiculum I retort! Ubi est filia. Filia est in culinam! Sadly so very sexist.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by turgid on Saturday July 11 2020, @11:00AM (2 children)
It's at times like this I wish I had an education.
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 11 2020, @02:09PM (1 child)
If by "had an education" you mean "can read a dead language which hasn't been particularly relevant to modern academia for centuries", try Lingua Latina: https://www.hackettpublishing.com/lingua-latina-per-se-illustrata-series [hackettpublishing.com]
(Score: 2) by turgid on Saturday July 11 2020, @02:20PM
Thanks.
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].