Look Out Of Your Window Now! Astronomical events.

The Hawk

Well-Known Forumite
Eyes to the sky this month. Comet Neowise looks like it might be a goer .....

https://www.spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=02&month=07&year=2020
A goer eh. Say no more. Nudge, nudge wink, wink.
upload_2020-7-2_17-55-16.jpeg
 

BobClay

Well-Known Forumite
I got up at 4am this morning to try and spot Comet Neowise but sadly there was cloud .. (at least it was high cloud, it's been on the deck the last couple of days.) Will try again over the weekend. 4am might be a bit late as the sky was already brightening. 3am will be next target, (this is like being back on watches.)
I think I'll rig up a ladder so I can get up on the roof with binoculars as the comet is low in the sky looking Northeast. If I don't post tomorrow I've either fell off the roof, or been arrested as a peeping tom. :urgh:

https://www.spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=10&month=07&year=2020
 
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BobClay

Well-Known Forumite
3am (0300) wobbling about on the roof for half an hour. But ... YES I got the comet. It is naked eye, just about, but with binoculars it's spectacular. A very intense nucleus and a huge tail standing almost vertically upwards. In binoculars it's as good a comet as I've ever seen. I tried for a pix but sadly my small point and click camera was perplexed by the streetlights still on around me.
I thought about going down and bringing up the SLR but to be honest wobbling on the apex of the roof at ungodly hours of the night doesn't lend itself to fiddling with cameras. Carrying the binocs wasn't that easy going up the slope of the roof (which was amazingly wet due to heavy dew .. :eek:)

All I can say is if you have binocs and want to see a spectacular comet, you'll need a good unblocked view to the NorthEast (I used the bright star Capella as a guide. Find Capella, move down and to the left toward 8 o clock. Capella is a weird star in itself, actually four stars in one.)

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/co...es-by-the-sun-providing-a-treat-for-observers
 

YorkshirePud

Well-Known Forumite
upload_2020-7-11_13-9-23.png


The view from Stafford this morning at 2:30am - I had to wait for it to come out from behind the houses. It's not quite as bright as it looks, but definitely easy to see with the naked eye. i could see the tail above the roof before the coma appeared. It and the stars look slightly stretched diagonally as it was a 10 second exposure.
 

BobClay

Well-Known Forumite
As Comet Neowise races out from the Sun it will become an evening object from the UK. In fact an all night object as it already doesn't go below the horizon from where I am, but will be difficult to see if there's any twilight effect going. It gets higher in the sky over the next few days. It wont be back for nearly 7000 years, so if you miss it, game over.
This site offers a planetarium view and you can set your location and adjust the time to position the comet as you please.

https://theskylive.com/planetarium?...a|7.09195080341526|dec|44.166524958581|fov|68
 

YorkshirePud

Well-Known Forumite
Here's where to look tonight at about 11:15pm. Everything rotates slowly to the right around Polaris as the night goes on. Capella is the brightest star in the area (probably twinklinga bit), and the comet will be about level with it, about 10 degrees above the horizon.

upload_2020-7-12_18-51-45.png
 

BobClay

Well-Known Forumite
Just got in from watching this comet, now laying almost due North from here. Not naked eye unless you get past the street lights and wait a few minutes for your night vision. Spectacular sight in the binoculars. Given that it's 70 million miles or so away, that tail must be colossal !!! :o

(70,000,000 miles isn't much astronomically but it's not an easy distance for the human mind to understand. For example, let's say you decided to drive there, driving for 10 hours every day at 100 mph. That's a pretty hard day's driving I'd say, but you'll need to toughen up, because you've got to do it every day of the week, every week of the year.
Not that you'd make it. It would take nearly 200 years to get there. :eek:)
 

BobClay

Well-Known Forumite
That star is apparently made up of Oxygen, Neon, Magnesium, Silicon, Carbon, Sodium and Aluminium. You could build a halfway good spacecraft out of that lot. :P

(I'm hoping that might give the conspiracy types something to chew on ... something better than flying effing pottery anyway ... :bum:)

:facepalm:
 

BobClay

Well-Known Forumite
Yes I've just been out. First clear night for a week down here. It's a fair bit dimmer than this time last week as it pulls away from the Sun, even though it's a little closer to the Earth. Still a nice sight in binocs. :)
 

The Hawk

Well-Known Forumite
View attachment 8989 View attachment 8990 I saw this as I looked out at 4am this morning... (excuse the phone flash) Thought it was a plane a first, then a flying saucer (I closed the curtains after ten minutes incase I was abducted :lol:) ...then googling brought up it could be a planet ...hubby reckons Venus???
I can't see your attachments, but I'm guessing you were looking at Jupiter (Saturn is also 'close' by, but not as bright). Hang, on 4am? That sounds more like Venus (Jupiter and Saturn are evening objects, I think Venus is quite prominent in the morning sky, also Mars at that time as well).
 
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staffordjas

Well-Known Forumite
Hubby said probably Venus , he only saw it from my photos though .... Will try to get photos on in morning ( although not very good ones, as not a good camera on phone . Could see it better with my bleary eyes than phone managed to pick it up. Would have got better ones if not trying to fathom out how to get flash disabled for ages whilst half asleep)
 
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