Comet Neowise has been photographed over Burnham-On-Sea Lighthouse this week.
Burnham photographer Stuart Anderson captured these superb pictures of the comet from Burnham beach in the early hours of Monday morning (July 20th).
He told Burnham-On-Sea.com: “I have been waiting for the last few weeks for a clear night. I decided to go to the beach away from light pollution, but the glow of Weston still appears.”
He adds: “The comet is easy to see without any equipment, looking like a blur in the northern sky, but it is fading over the next week. The planets Saturn, Jupiter and Mars are all easy to see at the moment as well. We just need the clouds to stay away!”
The comet was discovered on 27th March on images taken by the Nasa Neowise space telescope, and 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 3rd July and this week, on 23rd July, it will make its closest approach to Earth.
To see the comet, 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, this may increase the amount of detail you can see. It is one of the brightest comets since comet Hale-Bopp in 1997.
