Comet on Suburban Backyard Astro Sights

Last look at Comet C/2020 F3 NEOWISE

hgastroblog@gmail.com — Wed, 12 Aug 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Comet C/2020 F3 NEOWISE

hgastroblog@gmail.com — Wed, 29 Jul 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Now rapidly moving away from both the sun and the earth, Comet NEOWISE (C/2020 F3) was only discovered on March 27 and turned out to be the brightest comet visible from the northern hemisphere since Comet Hale–Bopp in 1997. A week ago it was easily visible to the naked eye, but it has dimmed greatly since then.

Comet C/2019 Y4 ATLAS

hgastroblog@gmail.com — Fri, 01 May 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Comet C/2019 Y4 ATLAS has been a big disappointment. It was discovered just four months ago, on December 28, 2019. Initially it brightened much more quickly than expected, and there were hopes that it might reach naked-eye visibility in late May when it will pass closest to the sun and to the earth. However its nucleus was observed to fragment by early April, and as a result it started getting dimmer instead of brighter. You can see pictures of the fragments taken by the Hubble Space Telescope by clicking on this link.