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inesccosta t1_j65cq5q wrote

Yesterday I looked at the night sky hoping I could see the comet but I was not successful. I was able to identify the Big Dipper and the Small Dipper, I even used Stellarium and I was in a place with no lights but yet, no comet 🙁

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MrAstroThomas OP t1_j65ffar wrote

The comet is very faint and has a so-called apparent magnitude of around 6. What does it mean?

Small magnitude values correspond to brighter objects. Further, it is a logarithmic scale, but this Infos doesn't matter now. What matters is the following: the naked eye can see objects down to a brightness of 6. So the comet is currently in a state that is barely visible to the human eye. Further, you need a very dark sky without light pollution.

The brightness will change now, going up to 5.5 or even 5.2. But note: it is indeed faint!

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