Comet Neowise

“The past week or so has brought to mind the statement of comet discoverer David Levy: ‘Comets are like cats – they have tails and they do precisely what they want’,” says Ken Kennedy.

“In my May sky notes, I mentioned two comets that had been discovered late last year and which may have become reasonably bright in the late evening sky during May and June. However, as often happens, promising comets break up as they approach the sun and don’t get a chance to shine.

“It was announced at the end of March that the space telescope Neowise had discovered a new comet which is officially called Comet C/2020 F3, but is generally known as Comet Neowise. It approached the sun from the southern skies and passed closest to it on July 3.

“After the failure of the previous comets there was not a great deal of excitement, but when Comet Neowise emerged from its close approach to the sun it brightened considerably. There was a sudden interest in this comet and more so when it was found that it had a large nucleus of around 5 kilometres.

“It moved into the low northern sky and has been seen by many observers despite the bright skies which remain at around midnight at this time of year. I have seen it on two evenings when looking out for noctilucent clouds.

“It can be seen low towards the north at around 1am and is easily visible to the unaided eye. I photographed it on the night of July 11/12 and have attached an image which shows how low it is in the sky, as the photograph includes a chimney pot and TV aerial.

“At present, it is to the left of the bright star Capella and when it passes closest to Earth on July 23, it will be below the Plough of Ursa Major. As Levy inferred, you can never tell what a comet is going to do.”

Comet Neowise, photographed over Dundee. Read more above.