Amazing Comet NEOWISE

NEOWISE Comet - Photo by Tim Eggebroten, Seattle WA July 2020

Here is Comet NEOWISE moving through the northwest sky above Seattle, taken by my nephew Tim Eggebroten using a DSLR, 200 mm lens, with a tripod at Golden Gardens Park.

Even from the light-polluted sky of Los Angeles, I was able to spot the comet using binoculars on July 17 in the northwest sky beneath the Big Dipper (aka Ursa Major).  It formed a triangle with the two stars of the bear's front foot... and the next night it had moved on.

3-D Animation by Phoenix7777

What a humbling experience to see debris from the formation of our solar system.  It was the most ancient rock I have ever seen.

I stood before it in awe saying "Hi!  I'm witnessing you as you move past my planet.  In my very short life, what a wonder to witness you, who have been circling the sun for 4.6 billion years!"

This ice from the deep deep freeze of our outer solar system is like a moth circling a flame.  As the comet nears the sun, hydrogen fire melts and burns some of its icy gas and dirt, producing the brilliant tail (well, two streams for a while--the dust tail and the ion tail).


To the right is an animation of NEOWISE moving from beneath the plane of the solar system, up through the plane as it passes the sun and then moving away to exit the inner solar system for another 6,800 years. 


NASA says at Space.com:
We now know that comets are leftovers from the dawn of our solar system around 4.6 billion years ago, and consist mostly of ice coated with dark organic material. They have been referred to as "dirty snowballs." They may yield important clues about the formation of our solar system.

Comets orbit the sun, but most are believed to inhabit in an area known as the Oort Cloud, far beyond the orbit of Pluto. 

This animation and more information and photos can be found on Wikipedia. 

The 3-D animation is by Phoenix7777 - Own work Data source: HORIZONS System, JPL, NASA, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=92399243.