How to See Comet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE)

Dogtown

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Minuteman
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Jun 21, 2007
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It's been tricky to see at dawn because it's been approaching the sun, but now that it's passed by and is quickly approaching its closest point to us, the next couple weeks will be pretty spectacular if you can get clear, dark skies. Unfortunately, it won't get close to the magnitude of Hale-Bopp in 1996.
 
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Yes, if you're in the Northern Hemisphere, you need to look towards the eastern horizon this week before the sun rises. Next week it'll be easier to see at dusk, so as the sun sets in the west, the comet will slowly rise. It should be brightest around the 23rd.
 
Yes, if you're in the Northern Hemisphere, you need to look towards the eastern horizon this week before the sun rises. Next week it'll be easier to see at dusk, so as the sun sets in the west, the comet will slowly rise. It should be brightest around the 23rd.
Cool. I have a mountain on my west side, so that's out. And to the east another, but lower elevation. I'll have to skymap this thing.
 
What power? I may have to bring out my unmounted Minox.

Could make out the Galilean moons starting at around 15x and Saturn's rings at about 20x. Both pretty awesome at 27x. Not quite enough to make out the Great Red Spot but I think that's a function of objective size (I know next to nothing about optics/telescopes). Jupiter is easy to pick out even on a full moon; Saturn is quite a bit fainter and just trailing it low and left.

Yeah definitely unmounted on my balcony in uptown Chicago :LOL:
 
You don’t need a lot of magnification to see Jupiter and the Galilean moons right now. A decent telephoto lens or spotting scope will do the trick.
 
We saw it last night also. Below and left of the Big Dipper as Sirhr said. Tail was visible through binoculars. A number of planets were also visible.