Photo Courtesy of Dr. Nicholas Mittica

By Mary Alice Murphy

In case you haven't heard about Comet Neowise, it has shown up in our portion of the sky. It should be around into August before leaving and not showing up for another estimated 7,000 or so years.

So, since I don't expect to be around next time it shows up, yesterday evening I stayed up late, beyond my normal bedtime. I knew it would need to be pretty dark before I could see the comet.

I tried heading out well after sunset, but on a fairly clear night like last night, the sky was still too bright.

I had read that Neowise would show up in the vicinity of the Big Dipper, so I looked for that first, when I went out the second time.

The Big Dipper is pretty recognizable if you know anything about constellations and the night sky. So, I spotted BD pretty quickly.

I had worried that a hill just to the north of our house might impede my view of Neowise, but I was in luck. BD was in the northwest sky where the hills and mountains are farther away, so more out of my view.

As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, BD got brighter, so I looked below the constellation looking for what could perhaps be a comet.

I saw what looked at first like a tiny cloud or sort of a smear of light about where I expected Neowise to be located.

I kept my eyes roaming around the sky, but they kept returning to that "smear."

My eyes got better adjusted to the darkness and I realized the smear was the tail of the comet. So, I perched myself on the front bumper of my husband's truck and just stared at the comet in fascination.

It's always hard to tell somebody how far something is away from something else in the sky. But I made "measurements" with my fingers about this wide and that far away.

It came down to the comet being, as the fingers spread at arm's length, about an inch-and-a-half of finger spread away from the bottom stars in the Big Dipper. Last night it was almost directly below BD, but I had seen photos of it from previous nights as being a bit to the right of the bottom of BD. I can't predict where it will be tonight.

And with the clouds we have today, who knows, we may not have any view of the comet tonight.

Watch for a clear day/evening/night and go out about 1½ hours after sunset. Find the Big Dipper and look below it for signs of a comet with tail.

I stupidly forgot my binoculars last night, but next clear night we have I will remember to go out with them to get a better view.

We are lucky in Grant County to have dark skies and the fewer the lights around you at night, the better chance you have of catching a glimpse of Comet Neowise.

May your musings bring you beauty!