Comet NEOWISE, on its way to the deep freeze beyond the planets, makes its closest approach to Earth this week, appearing as a large shooting star in the early evening sky near the constellation of the Big Dipper. Officially known as Comet C/2020 F3, it is the brightest to be seen in the Northern Hemisphere in 25 years. Amateur and professional skywatchers alike call it NEOWISE after NASA’s space telescope—the Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer—that first spotted it. Since 2009 it has been searching for asteroids and other celestial objects crossing Earth’s orbit.
A handout photo made available by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration shows in greater detail the twin tails of comet NEOWISE on July 5, as captured by the Parker Solar Probe.
Photo: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Naval Research Lab/Parker Solar Probe/EPA/ShutterstockThe comet will have its closest encounter with Earth midweek, on Wednesday and Thursday, when it will be around 64 million miles away. To catch a glimpse of it, aim your binoculars, telescope or camera to the northwest about an hour after sunset.
A handout picture made available by NASA shows Comet NEOWISE as seen from the International Space Station on July 5.
Photo: nasa/EPA/ShutterstockRussian cosmonaut Ivan Vagner, who has been in space since April, says the comet’s tail is clearly visible from orbit, as seen here through the window of the International Space Station. The comet has been spotted by several National Aeronautics and Space Administration spacecraft, including Parker Solar Probe, Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory and the international Solar and Heliospheric Observatory.
Comet NEOWISE on Sunday over the Ming'antu Observing Station of the National Astronomical Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Zhengxiangbai Qi in north China's Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region.
Photo: Lian Zhen/Xinhua/Zuma PressThe comet NEOWISE made its closest approach to the Sun on July 3, coming within 26.7 million miles (43 million km), a bit closer than the average distance from the sun to Mercury, according to NASA. The sun’s fierce heat boiled away the comet’s outermost layers, but the comet survived.
Comet NEOWISE, seen in the night sky at Västra Hamnen in Malmö, Sweden, on Friday.
Photo: johan nilsson/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
Comet NEOWISE soared above Tuttle Creek Lake just north of Manhattan, Kan., on Thursday.
Photo: Luke Townsend/Zuma PressAstronomers have identified 6,619 known comets like NEOWISE, a fraction of the total likely number that exist. The European Space Agency estimates that in the distant reaches of the solar system beyond Pluto, in the Kuiper belt and the Oort cloud, there may be as many as a trillion comets.
NEOWISE is traveling at about 40 miles per second. As the comet passes close to Earth, astronomers are studying its composition and structure.
Comet Neowise as seen over Oregon’s Crater Lake National Park on Thursday.
Photo: Robin Loznak/Zuma PressBased on its infrared signature, NEOWISE is about 3 miles (5 kilometers) across. By combining infrared data with visible-light images, scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory can tell that the comet’s nucleus is covered with sooty, dark particles left over from its formation near the birth of our solar system 4.6 billion years ago. Comets were born in its outer reaches, as planets were forming from dust and ice.
Astronomers have calculated that, once Comet NEOWISE passes out of view later this summer, it won’t be visible from Earth for another 6800 years. NEOWISE is next scheduled to appear in the year 8786.
Comet NEOWISE was seen above a beach in Istanbul on Saturday, as people picnicked.
Photo: tolga bozoglu/EPA/ShutterstockWrite to Robert Lee Hotz at sciencejournal@wsj.com
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