Comet 2020 F8 has dimmed from its last outburst and is now just barely qualified to be “eyes only visible”.  I call it that only in the abstract since I have attempted to spot it several times with binoculars without success.  I live on the west side of Houston and the place where the comet is theoretically visible is in the northeastern sky – which is awash in city-light at best – just before dawn.  My carefully chosen location is down south on a road that leads to Brazos Bend State Park where I was a volunteer telescope operator at the George Observatory.

You may ask why I did not use that telescope to view the comet.  It is that the public viewing program at “The George” was suspended late last year for renovations to the observatory and museum facilities.  It was all set for a grand re-opening when the current disruption concerning the Communist Chinese Xi Jinping Virus began.   

My attempts at viewing the comet took place on mornings this past week when skies were allegedly clear.  None were successful – due mostly to the aforementioned urban skies. The path of the comet is from the southern extreme of the Solar System – crossing into the northern skies – where it is now found – and exiting back to the south.  Because it is closer to the Sun now, it can only be seen in the early morning.  Later this month it will appear in the evening sky just after sunset.  More on that later.

The diagram in Figure 1 shows the current positions of the comet and Earth.  Mercury and Venus are seen but not labeled.  I dotted the comet’s path when it occupies the southern part of the Solar System.  With a considerable imaginative effort (and taking into account the direction of Earth and the comet), you can understand why it only appears in the early morning sky now and will appear just after sunset later. 

Figure 2 is the updated light curve and shows the decline in brightness.  Since it has now passed its closest point to the Earth, we could expect it to dim – if it were not still approaching the Sun.  The Sun will illuminate the comet more – and heat it, which may induce another outburst of brightness.  

Or…it could fall apart and disappear.  No guarantees, you understand. 😉

The observations are being “handed over” from southern hemisphere observers to those in the north.  That gap near the 15^th is a result.  There were single observations each day, but so far from the norm that I did not bother to plot them.

Hasta Luego – Steve

• astronomy
• comets