Tuesday, July 14, 2020
Comet!
The Weather Bureau says that a comet (named Neowise) is visible this week. I walked out of the house and looked NE, and BANG! There it is! No doubt about it.
This is the first time I've succeeded in seeing an astronomical event since 1970. I sometimes try to look for Northern Lights or comets when they're announced, but they never show up. Either the sky is too cloudy or the Northern Lights must be too faint to see from a city. Once I did see a vague reddish tint, which might have been the aurora or streetlights, but it wasn't worth the trouble of looking.
This year's comet isn't as dramatic as the 1970 comet. It doesn't have an obvious long tail. It's somewhat elongated and MUCH brighter than other stars.
** NEOWISE seems like an odd name. Usually a comet is named after the amateur astronomer who first saw it. In this case I'd think NEOWOW would be better than NEOWISE. Look NE, O WOW!
Labels: Carver
¶ 3:45 AM
