Comet Neowise might just be the biggest space snowball in decades. After Swan and Atlas -- two other promising comets discovered earlier this year -- fizzled and faded away, Comet C/2020 F3 (aka Neowise) appears poised to deliver a dazzling show.
Last week, it passed a critical point: It survived its closest pass by the sun on July 3 without cracking up from the heat, as many comets often do. Over the weekend, a number of amateur astrophotographers began sharing stunning images of the comet captured as it appeared just above the horizon in predawn skies.
As Comet Neowise begins to move farther away from the sun and closer to Earth, it'll shift from being visible just before dawn into the evening sky.
According to NASA solar system ambassador Eddie Irizarry, it should remain visible just before and around the time of first light until July 11. The comet will then dip below the horizon as it transitions from being an early riser to a cocktail hour sensation, hopefully. It'll start to be visible again in the evening around July 15-16. It should be a little easier to see during the second half of July when it's a little higher in the sky.
© Jan Tláskal / Spaceweather.com Comet Neowise as seen from the Czech Republic on the morning of July 6.
Right now, the advice being shared by many of those who have successfully spotted the comet is to first locate it in the sky using binoculars or a telescope. Once you've found it and its trademark split tail, you should be able to then track it with the naked eye.
Astronauts on the International Space Station have also spotted the comet, aided by their premium vantage point.
The comet's closest pass by Earth will be July 23, which might make for a particularly exciting viewing opportunity if the comet's brightness continues to hold where it is or even intensifies. It'll also rise a little higher in the sky on July 24 and 25 in case you miss the actual flyby date. Comets are notoriously fickle things that could always break up and burn out at any moment, so fingers crossed.
There's a possibility, for the most optimistic of us, that Neowise might brighten dramatically to become a so-called "great comet" that's easily visible and spectacular to see with the naked eye. While there's no strict definition of what a great comet is, it's generally agreed that we haven't seen one since Hale-Bopp in 1997.
Between its appearance in the evening sky at mid-month, the comet will move from the northeastern horizon toward the northwest and western edges of the sky.
Here's where you can spot the comet over the next couple of weeks. Online resources like TheSkyLive also offer similar night sky maps to aid your comet quest.
The comet had gone around the sun already and is now going away from the sun
toward the endless dark empty solar system. On the way out, it will pass near the earth
with the closest approach to the earth on July 23rd.
As the comet runs farther away from the sun, it will keep getting fainter every day.
Right now the comet is behind the earth and is not visible in the night sky.
I went out this morning on a hill-top but I could not see it anymore.
The comet hid below the horizon and is in the transition period through the earth.
It will come out to the other side and will be visible again in the evening sky after the sunset.
That is supposed to happen on July 15-16th and then it will stay in the evening sky till August
or whenever the brightness diminishes to the point of invisibility.
Please don't go out in the early morning time because it's not there anymore
but wait until mid-July to see it in the evening sky.
The comets are supposed to be very unpredictable but if everything goes along with our scenario,
it will be a wonderful heavenly show, possibly once-in-our-time, again in a week.