This material forms a tail that stretches millions of miles. They range from a few miles to tens of miles wide, but as they orbit closer to the sun, they heat up and spew gases and dust into a glowing head that can be larger than a planet. It will be a late waning Moon, with the New Moon on July 20, so the viewing conditions should be good as long as the weather cooperates.Ĭomet NEOWISE is about 3 miles across and covered in soot left over from its formation near the birth of our solar system 4.6 billion years ago - a typical comet.Ĭomets are frozen leftovers from the formation of the solar system composed of dust, rock and ices. EDT = NEOWISE elevation: ~17° Space Station elevation: ~07° EDT = NEOWISE elevation: ~10° Space Station elevation: ~08° EDT = NEOWISE elevation: ~13° Space Station elevation: ~18° EDT = NEOWISE elevation: ~08° Space Station elevation: ~14° Approximate times and locations of the conjunctions are listed below (the exact time of the conjunction and viewing direction will vary slightly based on where you are in the Washington, DC area): For several evenings, there will be a brief conjunction as the International Space Station will appear to fly near the comet in the northeast sky. There will be a special bonus for viewers observing comet NEOWISE from the northeast United States near Washington, DC. Just after sunset, look below the Big Dipper in the northwest skyĮach night, the comet will continue rising increasingly higher above the northwestern horizon. Using binoculars will give viewers a good look at the fuzzy comet and its long, streaky tail.įind a spot away from city lights with an unobstructed view of the sky If you’re looking in the sky without the help of observation tools, Comet NEOWISE will likely look like a fuzzy star with a bit of a tail. The object is best viewed using binoculars or a small telescope, but if conditions are optimal, you may be able to see it with the naked eye. Over the coming days it will become increasingly visible shortly after sunset in the northwest sky. By observing what they believe to be atomic sodium in the comet's tail, researchers can glean keen insight into the object's makeup.Observers all over the world are hoping to catch a glimpse of Comet NEOWISE before it speeds away into the depths of space, not to be seen again for another 6,800 years.įor those that are, or will be, tracking Comet NEOWISE there will be a few particularly interesting observing opportunities this week. Researchers studying Comet NEOWISE might actually also have a sodium tail. Comets also have an ion tail made up of ionized gas blown back by the solar wind. This dust tail is the sweeping trail seen in most comet images. Often, dust is pulled away along with gases from sublimating (going directly from solid to a gas) ice. (Image credit: Jeffrey Morgenthaler/Carl Schmidt/Planetary Science Institute)Ĭomet NEOWISE has two tails that typically accompany every comet.Īs a comet nears the sun, it warms up and material pulls away from the surface into a tail. The image on the left shows light reflected off of cometary dust, while the image on the right shows light emitted by sodium atoms. Astronomers created the images using the Planetary Science Institute's Input/Output facility near Tucson, Arizona. These false-color images of Comet NEOWISE show the concentration of sodium atoms in the comet's dusty ion tail.
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