Looking for Neowise
I am a space geek. I am not sure when it happened because I wasn’t always all that fascinated with anything related to science. I think it started when I became a regular pot smoker actually. Something about getting high makes the mind wander to places out of this world. Star gazing is one of my favorite things to do on a clear night after smoking a bit of weed. But not just star gazing. While I do love staring up into the beautiful night sky, I also want to learn and know what I am viewing.
When we recently learned that astronomers have discovered a new comet that would be visible in the northern hemisphere this month, we made our way to the lookout point in our local park on Thursday night to see if we could spot it.
Discovered on March 27, 2020, by the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) space telescope, during the NEOWISE mission, the comet was officially named after the mission on April 1, 2020. The comet is located approximately 190 million miles from the sun and 160 million miles from Earth and is only visible from Earth every 6,800 years.
These numbers are part of the intrigue of space for me. It is absolutely mind boggling that we have the technology to discover comets at that distance, to track their orbit, and to calculate that it will take 6,800 years for the comet to travel its full orbit.
On July 23, 2020, Neowise will appear brightest in the northern hemisphere and will be visible to the naked eye in a dark night sky in rural areas. If you are viewing from an urban area, binoculars may be necessary to spot the comet.
So did we spot the comet?
Nope. We did not. According to relevant articles on line, Neowise was supposed to appear brightest in the northwest sky around 10:00 p.m. on Thursday night. We were instructed to find the Big Dipper and the comet would appear 3 fist widths below the constellation. There was a slight hazy cloud cover lying along the horizon which I think was blocking our view. Even with binoculars we were unable to spot the comet.
But we were able to see Saturn which appeared as a very bright star in southeastern sky. Looking through binoculars, it appeared as a very bright crescent moon, but obviously much too small to be our moon. We had to do a bit of research to discover that it was Saturn that we were viewing.
Then just around 9:15 p.m. on Thursday, very near to where Neowise should have been passing by, we spotted a bright blinking star that was traveling through the eastern sky close to the horizon. We didn’t realize it at the moment, but we were looking at the International Space Station pass in its orbit. You can view ISS every night until July 29 in the northern hemisphere.
If you are as fascinated by space as I am (even if you are not), July seems to be the perfect time for all sorts of amazing things appearing in our night sky. Just do a quick Google search for viewing times and locations for Neowsie, ISS, Saturn, Jupiter, Venus, Mercury, and Mars. All are visible this month and it is a great activity to do with your kids (if they can stay up late enough for the perfect viewing darkness).
Are you a space geek, too? Have you spotted Neowise?
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Keeping it on the edge,
Shelbee
Linking up with these Fabulous Link Parties.
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
I am a midlife woman, wife, and stay-at-home mother of 2 boys and 2 cats. I have a passion for helping other women feel fabulous in the midst of this crazy, beautiful life.
18 Comments
Nancy
I’m not a space gazer at all, with or without pot. Lol. I havn’t got the patience for it. And I am a bit of a philosopher, and I can’t get answers to all my questions, so that will frustrate me.
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Oh my word, Nancy, you make me laugh! The stars make me get all philosophical and I never find the answers either…so I just smoke more pot! Ha. Thanks for stopping by, my friend!
xoxo
Shelbee
Tamar A Strauss-Benjamin
I remember seeing HalleBob when I was in 4th grade. I didn’t have the right directional views for this one (without leaving home) but I did see the space station fly by on Wednesday night!
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Gah, so exciting, Tamar! I was so excited when I realized that I saw the space station! I want to video chat with the astronauts up there!
xoxo
Shelbee
Jennifer
That’s so cool! I wish I had known, I would’ve tried to look for it.
Jennifer
Curated by Jennifer
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Jennifer, thanks for stopping by! You should still be able to see all of these things through the end of July so there is still time!
xoxo
Shelbee
Kathrine Eldridge
I have heard about this comet! Thanks for the reminder to look out for it soon. Stargazing is so relaxing!
https://www.kathrineeldridge.com
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Thanks, Kathrine! It should be visible for a few more nights! Hopefully you get the chance to go out look for it.
xoxo
Shelbee
Michelle
Even if you weren’t able to spot the comet, you got found some great sky watching targets! Dan took his motorcycle out around Lake Mead in order to get away from the Las Vegas lights. He did get it spotted. It was really clear here then. If he tried in the last 24 hours, he’d have been out of luck. Monsoon season has arrived.
I used to be quite the sky gazer, but it’s really too bright here to see much.
Michelle
https://mybijoulifeonline.com
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Thanks so much, Michelle! We did see some pretty cool stuff in the night sky. There is something also so beautiful about a city skyline at night. Even though it may block your star gazing views, a brightly lit night skyline in Las Vegas is so very awe inspiring as well! That is super cool that Dan was able to spot the comet clearly. And boo on monsoon season! Stay safe, my friend.
xoxo
Shelbee
Lizzie
Such a great sunset!
Lizzie
http://www.lizzieinlace.com
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Lizzie, thanks so much! It was so beautiful out there!
xoxo
Shelbee
mireille
Such a fun family activity! I think my kids would really enjoy something like this.
http://www.chezmireillefashiontravelmom.com
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Thanks, Mireille! I think your boys would really enjoy it as well! But you do have to keep them up rather late until the sky is dark enough to see anything.
xoxo
Shelbee
Patrick Weseman
So very cool that the whole family was out there. I am a space geek also. I always like wondering about places far away.
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Thanks, Patrick! I like to gaze off into space and wonder if there is life out there somewhere else. I feel like there has to be! It is so big, the vast expanse of space, that I don’t even think we have the capacity to understand how big and how far it goes. Perhaps other dimensions exist with life of some sort. Oh it all intrigues me!
xoxo
Shelbee
Barbara Chapman
How fun, Shelbee!!! I’m glad the kids were able to see the Space Station flying by at 18,000 mph. It’s really cool to be outside and look up… and there it is, whizzing on by! YES, we are space geeks!! Love Star Trek (all series, but especially “Next Generation” with Capt. Picard and Data…) and Star Wars, pretty equally. Charles and my honeymoon was to Florida and we went to NASA on our last day there from Kissimmee and Disney’s Epcot Center (no, we didn’t go to Disney World). We loved Epcot!!!
We had an 8″ telescope donated to us and our Boy Scout troop and finally sold it when we had to move out of our last home in California. It would never have made it in the storage units, no room. The man who bought it was very excited to have it, so it went to a good home. Our son loved looking at the moon, Saturn, Jupiter and distant stars which were blurry but still fun (wasn’t quite powerful enough). You need a bigger 10-12″ telescope with an electronic tracking thingy to follow the object you are viewing. Other Scouters and a science teacher at my middle school (where I worked for 10 years) had big scopes and it was AWESOME to go out at night and view the stars!!! Found your post in SYS. <3
Happy stargazing,
Barb 🙂
shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com
Gah, Barb, thanks so much for sharing all of your fun space geek experiences! We do not have a telescope but that would be all sorts of crazy cool if we did! I simply cannot get over how extraordinary space travel is and it boggles my mind that others are not quite so fascinated as I am. Haha. I found it so intriguing that the space shuttles that first traveled to the moon in the 1960’s had less technology than we have on our cell phones. That is some seriously cool stuff! I think I need to get a bit more into my space geekdom!
xoxo
Shelbee