{"id":555856,"date":"2026-07-18T09:41:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T09:41:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/555856\/"},"modified":"2026-07-18T09:41:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T09:41:09","slug":"the-sky-today-on-saturday-july-18-comet-tempels-knife-edge-tail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/555856\/","title":{"rendered":"The Sky Today on\u00a0Saturday, July 18: Comet Tempel\u2019s knife-edge tail"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\tBack to Article List\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\tCatch an edge-on comet as Tempel 2 plunges below the plane of our planet\u2019s orbit, heading toward perihelion. \t\t\t<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1706\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Comet10P_Tempel2-071026-Schur.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image\" alt=\"A telescope image of Comet 10P\/Tempel 2, showing a bright blue-green coma glowing near the center of a richly star-filled field. A diagonal satellite or aircraft trail crosses through the frame. The surrounding star field is dense with colorful blue, orange, and white stars against a dark background.\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\tImager Chris Schur captured this photo of Comet Tempel 2 on July 10, showing the comet\u2019s bright green nucleus and thin, edge-on tail as Earth passes through the comet\u2019s orbital plane. Credit: Chris Schur\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\">Looking for a sky event this week? Check out our full\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.astronomy.com\/observing\/the-sky-this-week-from-july-17-to-24-2026\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sky This Week<\/a>\u00a0column.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\">July 17: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.astronomy.com\/observing\/the-sky-today-friday-july-17-2026\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">The Moon skims south of Venus<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left wp-block-paragraph\">Comet 10P\/Tempel (also called Tempel 2) is closing in on the Sun for an early August perihelion. It\u2019s now undergoing some spectacular visual changes as Earth passes through the plane of the comet\u2019s orbit.\u00a0As we pass through the plane, the comet\u2019s tail appears to thin and spread out, turning into a line that extends to either side of the nucleus, rather than the more traditional one-sided tail we\u2019d expect.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"991\" height=\"758\" data-wp-class--hide=\"state.isContentHidden\" data-wp-class--show=\"state.isContentVisible\" data-wp-init=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on--click=\"actions.showLightbox\" data-wp-on--load=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" data-wp-on--pointerdown=\"actions.preloadImage\" data-wp-on--pointerenter=\"actions.preloadImageWithDelay\" data-wp-on--pointerleave=\"actions.cancelPreload\" data-wp-on-window--resize=\"callbacks.setButtonStyles\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/ASY-SM0726_02.png\" alt=\"The Path of Comet Tempel 2 in July 2026\" class=\"wp-image-170907\"  \/><\/p>\n<p>\t\tComet Tempel 2 arcs through Capricornus this month, potentially shining at 7th magnitude. Credit: Astronomy: Roen Kelly<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Tempel 2 is in an extremely favorable location, rising late in the evening and visible overnight. After the Moon sets, turn southeast and look about 20\u00b0 above the horizon for 3rd-magnitude Deneb Algedi, the brightest star in Capricornus. Tempel 2 is just 4.2\u00b0 southwest of this star this evening, close to Iota (\u03b9) Cap (about 1.5\u00b0 northwest of this star). Check out our chart above to help you pinpoint its location. Recent observations have placed the comet around 9th magnitude \u2014 an easy catch for binoculars or any scope, especially in a dark sky.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Sunrise: 5:47 A.M.<br \/>Sunset: 8:26 P.M.<br \/>Moonrise: 10:41 A.M.<br \/>Moonset: 10:58 P.M.<br \/>Moon Phase:\u00a0Waxing crescent (27%)<br \/>*Times for sunrise, sunset, moonrise, and moonset are given in local time from 40\u00b0 N 90\u00b0 W. The Moon\u2019s illumination is given at 10 P.M. local time from the same location.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Alison Klesman\u00a0is senior editor of\u00a0Astronomy\u00a0magazine. She holds a Ph.D. in astronomy and has studied a variety of topics, from minor planets to supermassive black holes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Back to Article List Catch an edge-on comet as Tempel 2 plunges below the plane of our planet\u2019s&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":555857,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[61,60,7882,82,44123],"class_list":["post-555856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-observing","tag-science","tag-sky-tonight"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555856","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=555856"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555856\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/555857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=555856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=555856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=555856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}