Starship Asterisk*

Remembering NEOWISE

Explanation: It was just last July. If you could see the stars of the Big Dipper, you could find Comet NEOWISE in your evening sky. After sunset denizens of the north could look for the naked-eye comet below the bowl of that famous celestial kitchen utensil and above the northwestern horizon. The comet looked like a fuzzy 'star' with a tail, though probably not so long a tail as in this memorable skyview recorded from the Czech Republic on July 23th, 2020, near the comet's closest approach to planet Earth. Photographs of C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) often did show the comet's broad dust tail and fainter but separate bluish ion tail extending farther than the eye could follow. Skygazers around the world were delighted to witness Comet NEOWISE, surprise visitor from the outer Solar System.

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The APOD links are messed up today more than I've seen before...

Yes, thank you, @alter-ego. It appears that there are three links or entries, all for 2021 July 31 but the Discuss link points to 2020 July 31.

Nice image though. Saved as a background for my vertically oriented middle screen.

Today's APOD is majestic! The Big Dipper surely looks fit for a king (although the king might fall out of it in its current position).


I guess the king fell out of his Dipper - wait, that's Humpty Dumpty...


Back to the APOD. The colors are great! Look at the subtly blue hues of all the stars of the Big Dipper except Dubhe, which is yellow-white instead. And look at Comet Neowise! Its long faint ion tail is unmistakably blue, while the fanning-out curving dust tail is brighter and yellow-white. Do note that the comet's coma is aqua green!

Ann

Beautiful! If I want a wallpaper of this; I
will have tip it! I see APOD posted this three
times; so I guess two are posted by mistake and
will probably will be deleted!

jks wrote: ↑Sat Jul 31, 2021 4:49 am Yes, thank you, @alter-ego. It appears that there are three links or entries, all for 2021 July 31 but the Discuss link points to 2020 July 31.

Nice image though. Saved as a background for my vertically oriented middle screen.

Yeah, at first I was pretty confused , but I soon I figured out how to get here by changing the link (which is still http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=200731 as I type this).

jks wrote: ↑Sat Jul 31, 2021 4:49 am Yes, thank you, @alter-ego. It appears that there are three links or entries, all for 2021 July 31 but the Discuss link points to 2020 July 31.

Nice image though. Saved as a background for my vertically oriented middle screen.

Thanks! Fixed it.
- RJN