If you have not yet noticed and/or photographed the NEOWISE comet, direct your eyes to the sky on your next transparent night. It fades as it passes beyond its closest point to Earth and extends to the farthest reaches of the solar system, which has not been noticed in only about 7,000 years.
It is most productively noticeable using binoculars and can be captured smoothly in any manual camera (and even in some of the newest “night modes” of smartphones), and previewed with the naked eye.
However, now that a crescent moon “rises” into darkness, the comet is a little harder to find.
So where’s the NEOWISE comet? At nightfall, it is about 15 to 20 degrees above the horizon in the northern sky, facing Jupiter and Saturn in the southern sky. Crosses the diminishing component of the maximum observed constellation of all: the Big Dipper, the “Big Dipper”.
Can you get the Big Dipper?
The Big Dipper stands out because it houses the asterism (form) called “Big Dipper” or “plow”. Most other people can locate them. However, despite these seven stars, which in combination shape a bowl and a handful, few people can locate its parent constellation.
This is where the NEOWISE comet, also known as Comet C / 2020 F3 (NEOWISE), this week (thanks to Sky and Telescope for authorizing the map here):
Here’s a symbol of where tonight is, noticed from the mid-latitudes of the northern hemisphere, a few hours after sunset:
Here are the stars of the “Big Dipper” or “Plough” that are definitely for you:
This is the way he deserves to look if he faints this week after dark and looks northeast. It will be in this general orientation (it is passing around the star of the north pole, Polaris, so it seems of all kinds or orientations depending on when you look at it).
However, those “Big Bear” / “Charrue” stars are components of a much larger and more impressive bear constellation.
Here is the constellation of the Big Dipper:
This might sound confusing, and I find it more of an anteater, however, all you want to locate is the bear’s “snout star” (Muscida), the “knees” and the two “doubles” or pairs of stars than making the legs of the bear (Talitha and Talitha Australis, and Tania and Tania Australis).
Remember that these stars are darker than the seven “central” stars, all of which can be discovered in a sky contaminated with light.
Once you have discovered them, you can gently hint at the bear’s shape, and you will notice that the “Big Dipper” / “Plough” is just a small component, only the back and tail, of a much larger and more impressive constellation. that covers much of the northern sky.
The Big Dipper will dominate the northern sky long after the NEOWISE comet returns to the edge of the solar system.
I wish you a clear sky and wide-eyed eyes.
I am an experienced journalist in science, generation and interested in area exploration, moon observation, night sky exploration, solar eclipses and lunars,
I am an experienced journalist in science, generation and travel, interested in area exploration, moon observation, night sky exploration, solar and lunar eclipses, astronomical travel, wildlife conservation and nature. I am the editor of WhenIsTheNextEclipse.com and writer of “A Stargazing Program for Beginners: A Pocket Field Guide” (Springer, 2015), as well as eclipse hunting guides.