Comet Neowise to dazzle us in the twilight sky |24 July 2020
Comet Neowise as seen over Bavaria, Germany (Photo credit: Karl-Josef Hildenbrand/Accuweather)
There are very few things in the astronomy world as exciting as a new comet in the night sky. The new comet, designated as C/2020 F3 NEOWISE, is the best comet we’ve had in nearly a quarter of a century; the last great comet was Comet Hale–Bopp in 1997.
What is a comet?
A comet is a small, icy solar system body that when it gets close to the sun, it starts to melt and break up and expel gas in a process called outgassing.
The comet itself is made up of a nucleus (the core of the comet), a coma (the atmosphere of the comet) and typically a long tail. The nucleus is made up of ice, dust and small rocky particles and can range from a few hundred metres to tens of kilometres across.
The number of comets that are bright enough and that come close enough to Earth to be seen with the unaided eye varies, but they are mostly faint and unspectacular.
Comet Neowise on the other hand is bright enough to be seen with our naked eyes or viewed through binoculars. It owes its brightness at the moment from being so close to the sun during its passage through our solar system, but as it moves away from the sun it will eventually dim.
Comet Neowise has been visible in the early morning sky since early July but it will soon make an appearance in the evening not long after sunset – thus easy viewings for anyone.
How to see the comet in the sky?
Comet Neowise can be seen here in Seychelles for a few days from around July 24-28, 2020 if you look northwest – close to the path the sun takes before setting – from around 7pm to 7.45pm during twilight and possibly continuing to be visible – depending on the amount of clouds close to the horizon – until it sets an hour or so later.
Perhaps the best viewing location on Mahé will be in the Bel Ombre, Beau Vallon and Glacis districts looking towards Silhouette island.
It can be spotted half way between the constellations Ursa Major and Leo Minor as a fuzzy star with a faint tail not too high above the horizon. However, with a pair of binoculars or a simple telescope, more details will be seen. The moon will be in the waxing crescent phase and should not overcome the brightness of the comet.
How to photograph the comet?
For those of you who would like to try out your photography skills, as the comet is somewhat faint to the naked eyes, it is recommended to take a long exposure (around 5 – 10 seconds), thus allowing the camera to gather more light for a good exposure. Some smartphones are able to achieve this easily in night mode but it is imperative to keep the phone as still as possible during the exposure.
Likewise, with a basic DSLR camera, a lens and a tripod, you can capture a beautiful wide angle landscape shot or go for a longer focal length (more zoomed in) to make the comet appear larger in the shot for more details. Set your camera to manual mode and open the aperture to as wide as it would go, say f 2.8 or f 4, set the ISO to 1600 or 3200 and the shutter speed to around 5 seconds.
Comet Neowise is unlike anything else we typically see in the night sky and it is uncertain how long it will continue to dazzle us. Hopefully with clear skies in the coming days we can all get a chance to observe this spectacle of nature with either binoculars or our naked eyes and capture some photos – either way it should be exciting!
References: Accuweather; Sky & Telescope; Stellarium
F. P.
