Comet C/2020 F3

July brought sky watchers an extraordinary look at Comet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE), a 3 mile-wide lump of dust, rock, and plasma (ionized gas). It had a split tail estimated to be hundreds of thousands to millions of miles long and traveled through the sky at approximately 144,000 miles per hour, easily viewed with binoculars, telescopes, and, under the right conditions, the naked eye.

Official name: Comet C/2020 F3 NEOWISE
General viewing location mid-July onward: Below the Big Dipper after sunset in the northwest sky
Date of closest approach to the Sun: July 3, 2020
Closest approach to the sun: 26.7 million miles
Date of closest approach to Earth: July 23, 2020
Closest approach to Earth: 64 million miles
Orbital period: Approximately 6,765 years
Return to inner solar system: June 24, 8786
Amount of water in NEOWISE: Approximately 13 million Olympic swimming pools of water

The photo at the top of the page was taken by Randy Light, M.D., on July 1, 2020, at the Salter Farm. He took the photo on the cover of this newsletter on July 24. Below are other comet images taken by Brazos Valley Astronomy Club members.

Warren Bracewell - July 11 at 5AM taken with Canon T7i set at 1.3 sec. on F11 and ISO 800 for 200 mm and 1600 for 300mm lens

Comet NEOWISE taken by Randy Light, M.D., on July 17, 2020

Comet NEOWISE taken by Mitchell Barry on July 17, 2020

Comet NEOWISE taken by Tom Campbell on July 18, 2020

Comet NEOWISE taken by Warren Bracewell around 10 P.M. on July 21, 2020 - Camera mounted on telescope