I thought Venus was really bright this morning in the eastern sky, when we got up at 5, and did our usual 4 miles to beat the heat. Turns out it was Comet ‘Neowise’ Really neat. Brightest comet I’ve seen since Hyakutake, or Hale-Bopp, whichever one was last.
If I can see it through the gobs of light pollution that the city of Houston dumps out, anybody can see it.
Oh, EDIT: Isn’t a comet just the sort of thing you’d expect from 2020? Though I thought it was supposed to show up before all of the bad stuff happened.
OMG. Mr VOW will be in tears because we cannot return to AZ in the near future while COVID is filling all the AZ hospitals to bursting.
At our home in AZ, which is out in the middle of nowhere and also not very far from the Petrified Forest, Mr VOW has an observatory set up with his 14-inch telescope. He would so enjoy comet-watching with Neowise!
I mention the Petrified Forest nearby, because it recently has been certified as “Dark Skies.”
I was out at about 5:30 this morning looking for it but the sky was already brightening. I saw Mars, and I assumed that super bright object was Venus - that’s amazing if it’s the comet! I’ll check it out again tomorrow a little earlier to see if I can make out the tail
The Petrified Forest is certainly a great place for getting away from it all. Driving by there on 40, it’s about the only place I’ve ever hit ‘Scan’ on my car radio, only to have the poor radio go all of the way through FM without finding anything.
I didn’t mean to turn this into a COVID thread, but it seems a very isolated location would be ideal for two people sheltering from the virus. And for skywatching. The Eastern Slope of the Sierra, north of Beatty, was darker than the parts of the Navajo Nation I’ve driven through, but not by much.
If all we had to do is shelter in place, we’d drag everybody with us and isolate on our property.
Alas, Mr VOW had a heart attack on January 17, 2020, and our abode is about 100 miles from a hospital, plus AZ hospitals are bulging with COVID patients.
Therefore, our kids have mandated we stay in SCal until “whenever.”
I am sorry to hear that. I hope he recovers fully, and that all of you remain safe from this disease.
I wonder how the seeing is when you get out of the city, either past Big Bear or somewhere like Anza-Borrego? Even with binoculars it should be great to see, albeit nothing like a 14 inch reflector setup would get you.
I’ve not seen it yet, but the forecast does say clear skies tomorrow night, and I happen to live quite close to one of England’s very few official dark sky locations, so that might be something to do tomorrow night!
I only have binoculars, but that should be enough.
Thanks for posting about this. I hadn’t heard anything about it.
That’s good news, although trees will block it from my backyard. But it does give me another reason to go fishing tomorrow at a nearby park - I’ll just have to get there a little earlier than first light. Houston’s light pollution will be at my back, and the northeastern sky will be out over open bay waters, so should have a good chance of seeing it.
I’ve glanced out my eastward facing windows shortly before dawn but haven’t seen anything yet. Then again, it’s been mostly cloudy just about every morning recently. I’m hoping that the evening apparition will be likewise impressive, and of course that the weather cooperates. As one writer has put it, we may have a “cocktail hour sensation” in store for us. Unfortunately, our remarkably cool and cloudy July this year isn’t encouraging.
If I can see the comet at all, or even locate it, I should be able to get some decent photos.
Well, the sky was clear last night, I went out to the moors… got bored after an hour or so when I realised how long twilight was going to be, and came home. Luckily, as it turned out, I could actually see it from the window at home.
I could see a pointy blur with a dot on the end with the naked eye, but I couldn’t focus on it with the binoculars, and it looks like one of the lenses has gone cloudy. Maybe it’s time for a new pair…
Saw it last night, across a lake, Either wife and 9-year-old son, between the Big Dipper and the horizon. Some wispy clouds in that direction, but clear through binoculars — a classic comet shape. We all thought it was cool! A few other folks from town were there, two with long-exposure cameras. We laughed about how this was replacing this summer’s planned trips to, say, the Grand Canyon or Greece (we’re in Wisconsin).
My son was impressed that the last human eyes to see this comet, around 4000 BC, lived “cave-man lives” — unless they happened to be in a nascent village in Mesopotamia, Turkey, or maybe China.
Good view of it last night. Hard to see with the naked eye with the light pollution from Scottsdale, but quite clear through small binoculars and very clear through the big astro binoculars. Got a decent photo as well with camera on a solid tripod.
Unfortunately, we have yet to find a place around here we can actually see the it. We live in a very tree-abundant place, and every horizon is a tree line. We thought we’d try again tonight, but Mr. Celtic Knot has to work overtime tomorrow, so we hope to catch it next weekend when it’s higher in the sky.
@JKellyMap – you are in the La Crosse area, right? Which lake? (Onalaska, Neshonic, or were you out of town). Hale Bopp and/or Hyakutake was up when I was living in Caledonia, MN. The county fair grounds was resonably dark, but go a few miles on 249 (at the time “minimum maintenance road – travel at your own risk”) it got dark quick. I might try up Cty 25 past channel 19.
I saw some REALLY bright in the eastern sky around 5 am this morning. Didn’t see anything like a tail at all. I figured it was Venus, but maybe not. I was looking for it earlier in the evening, but there is a mountain right where I expected it to be.