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A newly discovered comet is streaking past Earth, providing a stunning nighttime show after buzzing the sun and expanding its tail.
Comet
Neowise
— the brightest comet visible from the Northern Hemisphere in a quarter-century — swept within Mercury’s orbit a week ago. Its close proximity to the sun caused dust and gas to burn off its surface and create an even bigger debris tail. Now the comet is headed our way, with the closest approach in two weeks.
NASA’s Neowise infrared space telescope discovered the comet in March.
Scientists involved in the mission said the comet is about 5 kilometers) across. Its nucleus is covered with sooty material dating back to the origin of our solar system 4.6 billion years ago.
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The comet will be visible across the Northern Hemisphere until mid-August when it heads back toward the outer solar system. While it is visible with the naked eye in dark skies with little or no light pollution, binoculars are needed to see the long tail, according to NASA.
It will be about 7,000 years before the comet returns, “so I would not suggest waiting for the next pass,” said the telescope’s deputy principal investigator Joe Masiero of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.
He said it is the brightest comet since the mid-1990s for stargazers in the Northern Hemisphere.
Astronauts aboard the International Space Station have already caught a glimpse.
NASA’s Bob Behnken shared a spectacular photo of the comet on social media late Thursday, showing central Asia in the background and the space station in the foreground.
“Stars, cities, spaceships, and a comet!” he tweeted from orbit.
Stargazers are enjoying Comet C/0220 F3, best known as Neowise, the first comet visible from Earth this year.
Evidence of it is the image captured by photographer Robert Fedez that went viral in recent days.
The picture shared by NASA’s SKY account was taken in Canc{un at sunset.
Robert Fedez said in his Facebook account that the picture shows the south part of Isla Mujeres and, if you pay attention, you can also see the temple of Goddess Ixchel.
He added that the stunning picture of the comet was his reward after getting up very early in the morning for five consecutive days, “this makes me feel it was all worth it,” he said.
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The Neowise is the third comet discovered in 2020, according to Russian cosmonaut Ivan Vagner, who saw it from the International Space Station.
It was first captured by the NASA’s Neowise telescope on March 17 and will reach its closest point to the Earth next July 23, although it will still be some 103 million km away from us.
Although C/2020 F3 is 400 times farther than the Moon, it will be visible from Earth and it will move throughout the sky toward the West during July.
In case you are interested in watching Comet Neowise , there will be several opportunities to admire it in the next days, when it will become increasingly visible soon after sunset toward the Northwest.
If you watch the sky without the help of any tool, Comet Neowise will probably look like a blurry star with a bit of a tail, so it is best to use binoculars or a small telescope to catch the best views of this object.
For stargazers who want to watch Comet Neowise at plain sight, NASA suggests in a statement to find a place that is far from urban lights and with a wide view of the night sky. Then, just after sunset, you must look under the Great Bear constellation to locate the comet.
A fun fact about comets is that they are the frozen remains of the formation of planets nearly 4,600,000 years ago, so scientists consider them a kind of cosmic time capsules. Moreover, they have a characteristic tail made of dust grains that detach from the comet’s core.
Comets crossing the Earth’s sky are a rare opportunity to observe and collect more information about these time capsules. Several aircraft have observed Comet Neowise , including ESA’s & NASA’s Solar and Heliospheric Observatory.
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