Two Comets Meet at Dusk / Perseid Meteor Shower Update

August 12, 2020 at 6:28 PM

NEOWISE and T2 PanSTARRS together Aug 10 2020_S_labeled — Comet PanSTARRS appears in the outer tail of Comet NEOWISE on August 10, 2020. PanSTARRS is faint at 10th magnitude but still shows a tiny, compact head and short tail. Both comets are currently in the constellation Boötes, located low in the western sky at the end of evening twilight, but PanSTARRS is more than twice as far away as NEOWISE. Details: 200mm lens, f/2.8, 30 seconds at ISO 3200.Bob King

I discovered a comet! OK, not a new one. I was photographing our friend Comet NEOWISE two nights ago. When I looked closely at the photo I noticed a faint, greenish smudge near the top of its tail. My first thought was a bright galaxy or even an image flaw. Then it dawned on me that Comet PanSTARRS (C/2017 T2) was passing near NEOWISE this month. False alarm.

NEOWISE chart mid Aug — You can still see Comet NEOWISE in binoculars from a dark sky. This map will get you there. Start at brilliant orange star Arcturus about halfway up in the western sky at the end of dusk. You'll be looking for a fuzzball with a faint tail pointing back east. Click to enlarge.Stellarium with additions by the author

Remember PanSTARRS? When two hoped-for bright comets pooped out earlier this spring PanSTARRS held steady at around magnitude 8, bright enough for binoculars and nicely placed for viewing in the Big Dipper. Through a telescope it sported a bright coma and faint tail. While never showy it's been ever reliable, a trait valued in both comets and people.

Then NEOWISE took center stage and many of us forgot about our old friend. But keeping in character, the comet showed up unannounced in my photo, waving its tail as if to say "hey, I'm still here!" While you'll need a telescope to spot PanSTARRS, NEOWISE is still visible in binoculars from a dark sky, glowing around magnitude 6.6. I barely eked it out with the naked eye on the 10th, but 10x50 binoculars made the job easy — I saw the comet's round, fuzzy head (also called the coma) and 3-4 of faint tail.

NEOWISE is the closer of the two at a distance of 102 million miles (164 million km) vs 223 million miles (359 million km) for PanSTARRS.

Perseid by Alpheratz Aug 11-12 2020_S — A bright Perseid zips beneath the star Alpheratz in Andromeda last night (Aug. 11).Bob King

Did you catch the Perseids last night? We had lots of clouds here but enough clear spots to make the effort worthwhile. I watched from about 11 to 12:30 a.m. and saw a total of nine shower members. Two were real stunners: fast, bright and with glowing trails. A third meteor, far from the radiant, made an impressively long streak across the southeastern sky. Ironically, the brightest meteor I saw (and photographed) was a sporadic fireball that sliced vertically across Andromeda.

Sporadic meteor bright during 2020 Perseids_S — My favorite meteor from last night — a brilliant, yellow sporadic in Andromeda. The Andromeda Galaxy appears just to the left of the trail. Bob King

The Perseids remains active tonight at around half-strength. By all means plan a session this evening if you were unsuccessful last. The moon also rises later, allowing for more dark-sky viewing time, the better to see fainter meteors. Looking ahead, next year's Perseid shower will be ideal with no lunar interference. Even better, this year's Geminids — the richest of the annual meteor showers — peak on Dec. 13-14 around the time of new moon when we'll have dark skies all night!

Two Comets Meet at Dusk / Perseid Meteor Shower Update

I discovered a comet! OK, not a new one. I was photographing our friend Comet NEOWISE two nights ago. When I looked closely at the photo I noticed a faint, greenish smudge near the top of its tail. My first thought was a bright galaxy or...