First and last:
Posted on 01/03/2017 8:35:33 PM PST by BenLurkin
Seeing Comet C/2016 U1 NEOWISE fly by would be a rare opportunity for skygazers because the celestial body won't likely pass by Earth for the next thousands of years. Unlike short period comets such as Halley's, a comet which passes by our planet every 75 to 80 years, it would take C/2016 U1 NEOWISE far longer time before it gets to visit this region of the solar system again.
...
Paul Chodas, from NASA's Center for Near-Earth Object (NEO) Studies, said that there is a good chance that the object will be visible from Earth using a good pair of binoculars. Nonetheless, he noted that there are uncertainties about this since the brightness of the comet is notoriously unpredictable.
"Finding C/2016 U1 NEOWISE will be a battle between spying an elusive fuzzy low-contrast coma against a brightening twilight sky. Sweep the suspect area with binoculars or a wide-field telescopic view if possible," advised avid stargazer David Dickinson for those who want to see the celestial object.
From the northern hemisphere, the comet will be in the southeastern sky shortly before dawn during the first week of the year but the object is expected to reach its maximum brightness during the second week of 2017.
(Excerpt) Read more at techtimes.com ...
Bookmark
At one point the tail of that sucker stretched across MORE THAN HALF the night sky. With a fairly decent telescope you could even see it as it moved minute to minute.
Comets are fickle things. Would love for another big one to come out of nowhere like that, as Hale-Bopp also did the following year.
There is something very humbling about looking at the stars. We don't do it nearly enough these days.
Paul Chodas? Really?
>Snicker<
Uh yeah... Not. But you could see the rotation of the earth appearing to make it move.
I trust the amateur with the million-plus dollars home observatory and the telescopes and other equipment he's accumulated over a lifetime of devotion to his hobby.
You should have seen Shoemaker-Levy 9 hit Jupiter with his gear...
Comet West, february 1996, the one I remember. Was in a car heading for Yosemite at 3 am and was very surprised to see it very clearly in the low eastern sky. Sure would be great to see another one. Also looking forward to the total solar eclipse August 21, 2017.
Lucky you. I’ve been soured on comets since the complete bust of Kohoutek back in…’73?
“Oh, it’ll light up the night sky! It’s tail will stretch across the entire field of view! It’ll be visible for weeks! It will be spectacular!”
They wrote songs about it and I read books about comets and coudn’t wait to see it. And when December finally rolled around…
“Yes, the comet will be very, very low in the sky. You’ll need good binoculars to catch a glimpse of it. It’ll be around for a week.”
I’ve seen some very spectacular illustrations of comets that folks made before electricity and light pollution made muggle-viewing of comets nigh impossible.
I envy anyone that can see such things “in the wild” anytime, anyway they can!
Anyone catch Venus and the crescent moon in close proximity these past few days? Venus is so bright it looks like the headlight of an approaching helicopter.
In 1978 I bought a 1966 Mercury Comet. Does that count a favorite comet?
Oh cool, I stand corrected. You surly could see it moving with the proper telescope.
My son’s an amateur astronomer so we do a lot of planet, moon and star gazing with his rig. We’re hoping this comet puts on a good show.
I would drive home at night and see this ice cream cone spilled across the whole night sky. No one seemed to think it was important at the time even though I told them you’ll never see anything like this in your life again. I’ve seen a few comets since Hale-Bopp but none as spectacular. There are still some astronomical events coming up, however. There will be a total solar eclipse occurring right where I live this coming August.
First and last:
Yes! It was a little scary to see Venus close to that slim crescent and the reminder it gave me of the West’s current troubles.
They mostly went away disappointed. The '86 appearance was one of the worst ever recorded.
Asking the good Lord to please keep me around to see it again in 2061.
Two new comets in approach to Sun casually concur into same field near Whirlpool Galaxy (M 51) in this image taken on December 1st, 2016. At the left bottom, the recently discovered C/2016 U1 (NEOWISE) shows a fuzzy and green coma due to its composing of ionized carbonic gas, while at upper right is the comet C/2015 V2 (Johnson) with very different morphology, more dusty that gassy, shows a small and whitis coma from which departs a short tail of dust.
Both comets could be observed using binoculars in the future: NEOWISE at the end of this month of December before immerse into light of dawn, of which perhaps will not come out because is possible the comet to disintegrate at approach to Sun; comet Johnson will reach its maximum brightness on next spring 2017.
http://www.skyandtelescope.com/online-gallery/comets-in-conjunction/
I wish!
I remember that one too.
This web site I just found when searching for “C/2016 U1 NEOWISE”.
https://theskylive.com.
This looks to be a pretty awesome site, but I know nothing about it. I’ve only used Sky View, Distant Suns, StarMap 3D, and other apps on my phone when I’ve been interested in figuring what start is which, or what’s going to show up soon, until now.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.