Vocal Voices

Has anyone managed to see this thing yet?

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

Nasa said: "A comet has suddenly become visible to the unaided eye.
"Comet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) was discovered in late March and brightened as it reached its closest approach to the Sun, inside the orbit of Mercury, late last week.
"The interplanetary iceberg survived solar heating, so far, and is now becoming closer to the Earth as it starts its long trek back to the outer Solar System.
"As Comet NEOWISE became one of the few naked-eye comets of the 21st Century, word spread quickly, and the comet has already been photographed behind many famous sites and cities around the globe."

Too many street lights to see stars or other space objects such as flying saucers

Interesting that the media is calling it NEOWISE when its real name is Comet C/2020 F3.

NEOWISE is actually a mission on board the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) satellite.and the NEO part means Near Earth Objects. It's original mission was an infrared map of the sky and once enough data was collected it was put into hibernation, this has happened a few times. It has now turned its attention to NEOs. It has so far found about 260 of which some 40 odd are potentially dangerous.

There is also SENTRY lead by NASA - JPL - CIT in collaboration with other international space agencies. It has narrowed down some potential impacts of sizeable objects and a few could be with us in the next 15 to 20 years. They range from a couple of metres up to about 130m in diameter.

Then there is the 'Dark Planet' or the new 'Planet Nine' to replace Pluto. It is only theoretical but it would partially explain the perturbations in the orbits of some sizeable objects in the Kuiper Belt and the Oort Cloud. The odd bump here and there could send one of these heading to the inner solar system and if Saturn and Jupiter are in the wrong place to sweep them up who knows?

Stay alert!

If you really want to see it you need to be out after 23:00 and before 03:30. You need to be looking directly NW with a clear view of the horizon. There is a line of three bright stars from right (N) to left (W) Capella, Dubhe (in the Plough directly overhead) and Artcturus. The comet follows the line of stars about half way between their line and the horizon - Capella to Arcturus. Good luck.