On March 27, 2020, NASA’s near-ground Inground Infrared Exploration Explorer discovered a new comet in our cloud area. The C / 2020 F3 NEOWISE comet (or NEOWISE comet for short) became more visible to more people than ever before when it began appearing in northern latitudes during the evening hours of this month. If you want to capture the scene, July is the time to do so: After the NEOWISE comet has passed Earth, it will not be visible for another 6000 years, Lifehacker reports.
Recently, the NEOWISE comet appeared above the northern horizon in the prehistoric skies in the northern US and Canada. Around July 12 through 15, the comet will begin to appear after sunset and also before sunrise. To see your best chance, wait until the evening of July 22nd or the morning of the 23rd. According to EarthSky, this is when the comet flies closest to Earth. If the NEOWISE comet maintains its normal brightness, it will be better to see the conditions on those dates.
Comet NEOWISE is technically a “naked eye” comet, but will be difficult to find without equipment. Shortly after sunset, grab your binoculars and look to the northwest sky. It will appear closer to the horizon if you live further south, and higher in the skies at higher latitudes. With each passing night, NEOWISE rises higher, ending under the Big Dipper when it reaches peak visibility on July 23rd.
Binoculars make it easy to find the NEOWISE comet and see the split tail. After you find the comet with your binoculars, you can try to see it for yourself. Comet NEOWISE looks like a blurry dot with the naked eye. After the current trip, the C / 2020 F3 NEOWISE will not be back in the night sky until around the year 8736.
[h/t Lifehacker]