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Credit & Copyright: Declan Deval
Explanation:
Have you ever seen a comet?
Tonight -- and likely the next few nights -- should be a
good chance.
Go outside just at sunset and look to your northwest.
The lower your horizon, the better.
Binoculars may help,
but if your sky is cloudless and dark,
all you should need is your unaided eyes and patience.
As the Sun sets, the sky will darken,
and there will be an unusual faint streak
pointing diagonally near the horizon.
That is Comet NEOWISE.
It is a 5-kilometer-wide
evaporating dirty iceberg visiting from --
and returning to -- the outer
Solar
System.
As the
Earth turns,
the comet will soon set, so you might want to take a picture.
In the
featured image,
Comet
C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE)
was captured two mornings ago rising over
Stonehenge in the
UK.
Discovered with the NASA satellite
NEOWISE
toward the end of March,
Comet NEOWISE has
surprised many by surviving its closest approach to the Sun, brightening dramatically,
and developing impressive (blue) ion and (white) dust tails.
Notable Images of Comet NEOWISE Submitted to APOD:
|| July
13
|| July
12
|| July
11
|| July
10 & earlier ||
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: comet
Publications with words: comet
See also:
- APOD: 2025 February 5 Á Comet G3 ATLAS Setting over a Chilean Hill
- APOD: 2025 February 2 Á Comet G3 ATLAS Disintegrates
- APOD: 2025 January 28 Á Comet G3 ATLAS over Uruguay
- APOD: 2025 January 26 Á The Many Tails of Comet G3 ATLAS
- Comet G3 ATLAS: a Tail and a Telescope
- APOD: 2025 January 21 Á Comet ATLAS over Brasilia
- APOD: 2025 January 20 Á Comet ATLAS Rounds the Sun