The NEOWISE Comet from The California Suburbs and Countryside
The NEOWISE comet, seen over the suburb of Danville
For the month of July, our planet was visited by a remarkable comet. Its brilliance was too dim for my naked eye, either because of light pollution or because I was witnessing it as it was dimming. Still, with the camera, it pops! There is something special for me about getting to see such an uncommon event from the hometown why my astronomical interest began. This is what guided me to taking the photograph above from that exact vantage point. While the best skies I’ve ever seen were in Australia and the Sierra Nevada mountain range, I’m excited to share these photographs.
A close-up of NEOWISE captured with a cheap 300mm lens
I think the most remarkable aspect of this story is that the comet was only just discovered, on March 27th of this year. It is estimated to contain over 32 trillion liters of water, and measure roughly five kilometers wide, equivalent to the distance between me and the person I want to be. It is the brightest comment to visit Earth since Hale-Bopp in 1997. If you missed NEOWISE, it will take over 6,800 years for it to return. So you’re better off waiting for the famous Halley’s comet to return in 2062. Or maybe before then, another mystery comet will swing by.
A dim capturing of NEOWISE from the Collier Canyon. The light around the horizon is a mixture of light pollution and the recent sunset.
The comet is named after a NASA satellite telescope project. As with most NASA names, it is an initialism. NEO stands for Near-Earth Objects, while WISE stands for Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer. NASA...not known for their skills with naming. I enjoy thinking about how the engineers there go about with naming pets and children. I expect it’s something like the following; “This is ROCKY, which stands for Rambunctious Olfactorius Cat-fearing K9 Yapper. He gets along really well with our child, ALEC, i.e. Annoying Little Energetic Child.” NASA even had to outsource naming the Mars Rover to children. This was a good though, Their selection, the idea of Thomas Zurbuchen, is a phenomenal name to the rover. ‘Perseverance’ is expected to launch sometime this week, weather permitting.
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