Comet visible in Yuma’s night skies right now
Find the Big Dipper, and then look below its scoop for NEOWISE
A recently discovered comet has been making the headlines lately, and good news, readers - it’s one that is visible in Yuma’s skies right now.
NEOWISE was discovered on March 27. It was named after the NASA spacecraft that spotted it: Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or NEOWISE.
Comets are “cosmic snowballs of frozen gases, rock and dust that orbit the Sun,” NASA notes. “When frozen, they are the size of a small town. When a comet’s orbit brings it close to the Sun, it heats up and spews dust and gases into a giant glowing head larger than most planets. The dust and gases form a tail that stretches away from the Sun for millions of miles.”
Currently, there are 3,652 known comets, NASA notes.
We’ve heard from several readers who have spotted NEOWISE here. Some found it while star-gazing in their backyard, while others headed down to the West Wetlands or out to the desert for less light pollution.
And fortunately, if you know what to look for, this is an easy-ish one to spot.
After the sun sets, wait about an hour to 90 minutes before heading outside.
Once you start star-gazing, find the Big Dipper, also known as Ursa Major. When you find it, look below the scoop of the Big Dipper toward the horizon line.
Without a telescope or binoculars, the comet will be visible, but looks like a fuzzy smear across the night sky - it won’t look like a bright streak.
However, with a telescope or binoculars, the comet will appear much more clearly.
If you can’t see it, try downloading a stargazing app on your phone, and point it toward the sky for a little assistance.
NEOWISE will be closest to Earth on July 22, passing about 64 million miles from us.
If you want to check it out, don’t delay. NASA is uncertain of how long NEOWISE will be visible, but once it leaves, it won’t be back for 6,800 years!