Comet NEOWISE this morning at 4:47 A.M., CDT.
Nikon D800, Nikkor 500mm f/4, 2 Seconds @ f/4 ISO 640
Comet NEOWISE, this morning at 4:47 A.M., CDT.
This photo is a cropped version of top photo. In this
cropped version, the split in the tail is more easily seen.
I was up again this morning to photograph Comet NEOWISE. A cloud in the northeast obscured the comet until about 4:45, but once it moved out the comet was fantastic! It is best seen with binoculars. Here in North Alabama it is but a faint smudge, however the coma is seen as quite star like. The top photo, full frame by the way, shows the comet over Horse Cove, near Gurley, Alabama. The split in the tail was more noticeable this morning. This morning was overall better viewing conditions and less humidity in the air than on the morning of the 8thwhen I photographed the comet.
The bottom photo is the same one, but it has been cropped. I included the cropped photo so the split in the tail can be more easily seen. Just behind the coma, the tail splits into two parts from our angle of view. While comet NEOWISE is current visible in the northeastern morning sky, by July 14thyou should be able to see it about an hour after sundown in the northwestern sky.
The comet is currently .91AU’s* (85,128, 736 miles) from Earth. On July 24 it will be .69 AU’s (64,436,192 miles) from earth.
The following website has good information on viewing the comet.
* AU is an Astronomical Unit, approx.. 93 million miles. The distance of the Earth from the Sun. https://www.britannica.com/science/astronomical-unit)
Comet NEOWISE
This comet bears the name of the satellite that discovered it on March 27th: NEOWISE, an acronym for Near Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, used to assist NASA’s efforts to identify and characterize the population of near-Earth objects, such as asteroids. And occasionally, as in this case, it also can discover a comet. https://www.farmersalmanac.com/comet-neowise-july-2020-131179
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