Comet Swan visible in SA skies

Credit: The newly discovered Comet Swan, officially known as C/2020 F8 (SWAN), captured on telescope and camera in the Cederberg, South Africa, by astronomer Heine Wieben Rasmussen, at Bliss & Stars, an Astronomy and Mindfulness Retreat.

As COVID-19 fills our lives, the newly discovered Comet Swan is currently gliding across our skies. Local astronomer, Heine Wieben Rasmussen, has captured a series of spectacular images of Comet Swan from the remote mountains of the Cederberg in South Africa, where he owns Bliss & Stars, a mindfulness and astronomy retreat, with his wife Daria.

Comets are cosmic snowballs of frozen gases, rock and dust that orbit the Sun – they leave streaking tails of debris behind them as they travel across the sky.

The C/2020 F8 (SWAN) or Comet SWAN, is a comet that was discovered in images taken by the SWAN camera on March 25, 2020, aboard the Solar Heliospheric Observer (SOHO) spacecraft. It is to be found 100 million km from Earth in the constellation of Cetus and is less than 50 degrees from the Sun. In the Southern hemisphere, the comet is barely visible to the naked eye or with binoculars, from a dark site in the early morning.

Rasmussen said the reason he was able to obtain the photographs was the darkness of the sky: ‘I am very fortunate to live in the Cederberg in a dark sky area, where there is very little light pollution.’

‘Increasing urbanization has kept skies in the towns and cities artificially light, so few people have experienced the magic of the Milky Way crossing a star studded sky.’

‘We have lost our connection with nature on so many levels. It is time to pause and reconnect – looking up at the stars is a wonderful way to regain perspective.’

The Greeks and Romans and many other ancient cultures believed that the appearance of comets was a sign of significant earthly events to come.

Another comet visible to South Africans from time to time is Halley’s Comet. This is a short-period comet visible from Earth every 75–76 years and the only known short-period comet that is regularly visible to the naked eye from Earth. It is also the only naked-eye comet that might appear twice in a human lifetime.

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