Comet Neowise

[SteveH]

I've only just heard of this. I'll be looking out for it after sunset or before sunrise next time we have a clear sky. The only comet I've ever seen before was Hale-Bopp, which was visible in the Eastern sky before sunrise in 1996. I saw it as I left the house early to go to work every day - I was a delivery postie then. In the early 70s, comet Kohoutek was made much of before its arrival; we were told it'd be the brightest object in the night sky, and would be bright enough to read print by. In the event, it never became visible to the naked eye, and neither did Halley, on its last return in 1986: at least, I never saw it, to my disappointment.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/53331739

[Dicky Underpants]

I've only just heard of this. I'll be looking out for it after sunset or before sunrise next time we have a clear sky. The only comet I've ever seen before was Hale-Bopp, in 1986, which was visible in the Eastern sky before sunrise in 1996. I saw it as I left the house early to go to work every day - I was a delivery postie then. In the early 70, comet Kohoutek was made much of before its arrival; we were told it'd be the brightest object in the night sky, and would be bright enough to read print by. In the event, it never became visible to the naked eye, and neither did Halley, on its last return in 1986: at least, I never saw it, to my disappointment.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/53331739

In the case of Kohoutek it was also a great disappointment to Endtimers of sundry religious affiliations. I remember being handed tracts of supposedly great import by earnest young gentlemen at the time.

[SteveH]

In the case of Kohoutek it was also a great disappointment to Endtimers of sundry religious affiliations. I remember being handed tracts of supposedly great import by earnest young gentlemen at the time.

Me too! Especially by the Children of God, a cult which was big at the time.

[Walt Zingmatilder]

In the case of Kohoutek it was also a great disappointment to Endtimers of sundry religious affiliations. I remember being handed tracts of supposedly great import by earnest young gentlemen at the time.

Maximum points for squeezing religion out of comments. Apparently on occasion the are parents of doom especially a direct hit on one or several cranial.

[Dicky Underpants]

Maximum points for squeezing religion out of comments. Apparently on occasion the are parents of doom especially a direct hit on one or several cranial.

We can discuss its scientific import  too.  Kohoutek was indeed an exceptional comet and its attaining perihelion on 28th Dec 1973 was a once in many lifetimes event. The fact that it won't be visible in the inner solar system for another 75000 years is just a bit mind-boggling
Le silence de ces espaces infinies me terrifie, as a certain religious French mathematician and philosopher may have said.

[Dicky Underpants]

Grey skies for Neowise over Bristol for tonight and tomorrow. Things look more promising thereafter.

[Gordon]

Apparently tonight at 23.05pm will provide a good view - currently clear skies above Glasgow.

I've been told to check the point on the horizon where the Sun is due to set (at around 10.30 here), and then later look upwards to the left from that point and the comet should be visible under the plough. Binoculars are primed and ready.