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

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: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 09 2020, @11:05PM (11 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 09 2020, @11:05PM (#1018866)

    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)

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 09 2020, @11:23PM (#1018873)

      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)

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 09 2020, @11:43PM (#1018885)

        The Star called "Wormwood". Revelation 8:10-11:

        “The third angel sounded his trumpet, and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from the sky on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water—the name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters turned bitter, and many people died from the waters that had become bitter.”

        Some wacko Republican Christian Tin Horn is riffing on this [cbn.com].

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 10 2020, @01:19AM

          by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 10 2020, @01:19AM (#1018920)

          Xenu will save us in a DC-8.

        • (Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Friday July 10 2020, @02:22AM (4 children)

          by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Friday July 10 2020, @02:22AM (#1018931)

          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)

            by Ethanol-fueled (2792) on Friday July 10 2020, @02:38AM (#1018934) Homepage

            Revelation 13:17

            " And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. "

            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 aristarchus on Friday July 10 2020, @02:53AM

            by aristarchus (2645) on Friday July 10 2020, @02:53AM (#1018940) Journal

            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)

          by stormwyrm (717) on Friday July 10 2020, @02:49AM (#1018937) Journal
          Chernobyl (Чернобыль) is the Russian word for the plant with the scientific name Artemisia vulgaris, or the wormwood plant. I remember they were crowing about Revelation 8 back in 1986 too after the nuclear disaster happened there. Halley's comet's last return was that year as well, although it was a big disappointment. As Wikipedia puts it: "Halley's 1986 apparition was the least favourable on record. The comet and Earth were on opposite sides of the Sun in February 1986, creating the worst viewing circumstances for Earth observers for the last 2,000 years." You can make those prophecies fit almost anything if you use a big enough shoehorn.
          --
          Numquam ponenda est pluralitas sine necessitate.
          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 10 2020, @11:09AM

            by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 10 2020, @11:09AM (#1019017)

            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

            by FatPhil (863) <pc-soylentNO@SPAMasdf.fi> on Saturday July 11 2020, @06:05AM (#1019405) Homepage
            Полынь горькая is wormwood: https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9F%D0%BE%D0%BB%D1%8B%D0%BD%D1%8C_%D0%B3%D0%BE%D1%80%D1%8C%D0%BA%D0%B0%D1%8F
            --
            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

    by aristarchus (2645) on Thursday July 09 2020, @11:09PM (#1018867) Journal

    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)

    by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Thursday July 09 2020, @11:13PM (#1018868)

    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)

      by acid andy (1683) on Friday July 10 2020, @12:05AM (#1018896) Homepage Journal

      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)

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 10 2020, @12:52AM (#1018910)

        Maybe there's still time to become a part time mummy!

        Jacinda already took that job, that's why he's so salty.

        • (Score: 2) by acid andy on Friday July 10 2020, @05:19PM

          by acid andy (1683) on Friday July 10 2020, @05:19PM (#1019162) Homepage Journal

          Maybe there's still time to become a part time mummy!

          Jacinda already took that job, that's why he's so salty.

          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)

    by Jiro (3176) on Friday July 10 2020, @12:33AM (#1018903)

    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

      by aim (6322) on Friday July 10 2020, @08:46AM (#1018994)

      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)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 10 2020, @03:19AM (#1018947)

    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

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 10 2020, @08:53PM (#1019221)

      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)

    by aristarchus (2645) on Friday July 10 2020, @05:35AM (#1018971) Journal

    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

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 10 2020, @11:14AM (#1019020)

      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)

      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.

      • (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]

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