There’s only one thing to see this week: comet C/2020 F3 Neowise. Discovered on 27 March on images taken by the Nasa NEOWISE space telescope, by the beginning of this month the comet had grown in brightness to become visible to the naked eye. It passed its closest approach to the sun on 3 July and this week, on 23 July, it will make its closest approach to Earth.
To see the comet from the UK, look north in the early hours of the morning. Find the Plough, which is conveniently located between the bright yellow star of Capella to the east, and the orange star of Arcturus to the west. The comet will appear as a misty spot, close to the horizon. Its tail will be pointing straight up, although you are unlikely to see this with the naked eye. The best you can hope for is a slight elongation of the central patch of light. However, if you take binoculars with you, this will increase the amount of detail you can see. Unfortunately, the comet is too far north to be visible from the southern hemisphere. It is one of the brightest comets since comet Hale-Bopp in 1997.
