At 11 o’clock on Monday night, two of us set off to try to see Comet Neowise. The darkest part of the sky, with the least amount of light pollution was around 15 minutes’ drive, towards Chelmorton. A very thin and intermittent layer of cloud obscured much of the heavens, but there was still plenty to observe. Neowise was only just visible, but I would have missed it had I been unaware of its existence.
We were joined by another stargazer who, unlike me, had a profound knowledge of everything in the night sky. We also observed a faint satellite crossing the sky, as well as the International Space Station, which at one point shone brightly. All in all, a fascinating hour or so. Whereas Neowise, tonight was only just discernible, Hale Bopp of perhaps 30 years ago was highly visible. I saw it at least once while driving a local passenger train through Woodsmoor in the direction of Stockport, above a row of houses on my right hand side. Then, as now, there was something quite spiritual about this.
Thanks for reading, David, 01.27hrs Tuesday 21st July.
David's Cruise 