NEOWISE

After a bit of research last week, I settled into a quiet place, free from as much light pollution as possible, and set out in search of a comet. I followed Big Dipper's curve and with some patience for mosquitos, found NEOWISE in the sky.

A comet is a small, icy solar system body that releases gases as it passes close to the sun and warms.

With binoculars, a telescope, or long-exposure photographs, it was possible to see details of this incredible phenomena: the shining nucleus of a comet, as bright as the top 100 stars in the sky, with its two tails.

These tails are distinctly different.

One is a blue ion tail which is narrow and straight, created by ultraviolet sunlight so strong that when it strikes the comet it ionizes carbon monoxide, pushing out blue-glowing ions from the comet's nucleus.

Its other tail is a wave shaped. It is a wide, diffuse dust trail pushed out by sunlight, but because these dust particles are heavier, they are better able to resist this light pressure, so the particles continue along in a curved solar orbit. It is a grey/white color because of its ability to reflect sunlight.

This comet was named after NASA's Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (NEOWISE) mission which discovered this comet on March 27, 2020.

It was awesome to catch a glimpse of NEOWISE as it passed through the inner solar system while heading into the depths of space, not to be seen again for another 6,800 years.

Dr. Cristina Allen ND