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Chasing a Comet

More like chasing one's tail.  As in having persistence to keep going after it time and time again.

This was a case where we literally wanted to go see the celestial body known as a comet.

Why you ask?  Well for starters stuff on the planet seems passe.  So why not look up to something?  Literally.

This one is a ball of ice and dust and seen streaking across our solar system for an observer in the northern hemisphere.

Typical viewing times are in the month of July 2020, after dusk below the constellation Ursa Major (or Big Dipper).  Looking out on the NW horizon around 10 pm on the summer evening one might get lucky to see this faint blur of a comet dipping down toward the horizon.

While only 3 miles at its core diameter, Comet NEO-WISE (so named as the acronym is part of a government funded survey for near earth objects), is about 0.66 AU away from viewer on earth at this point (1 AU is earth's distance from our sun = 93M miles).


Below are a couple of pics taken from northern California.  


Formed at the beginning of time these balls of ice, gas and dust have limited shelf life since they blow themselves up passing close to a star like our sun.  This one did survive and makes for a wonderful display as it leaves to not return for another 6,800 years.




What makes it exciting is that this is the first known sighting of a comet for earthlings since the Hale Bopp went by in mid 90s.  For those of us in the northern hemisphere it is a treat that comes by once on few decades.

So long .. (the tail is thousands of miles long due to the particulate blowing away from the comet and getting lit up by the light of the sun).
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