Comet blazes across evening Conejo Valley sky


Courtesy of Scott Hallock

Courtesy of Scott Hallock

OUT OF THIS WORLD—Comet NEOWISE passes over the Conejo Valley on July 15. Local professional photographer Scott Hallock took the photo from a North Ranch hilltop using a Sony a7R IV camera with a 2- to 4-second exposure. The comet is named for the NASA space telescope that first spotted it March 27: the Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer. As the comet moves farther away it will be harder to see, so catch it by the last weekend of the month just after sunset, below the Big Dipper in the northwestern sky.