A picture of comet NEOWISE taken in the early dawn of July by a photographer
As we explore and discover more about space and what is out there, we get to add on to our ever-increasing data on whatever classifications, computations, and innovations we have come up with. One great example is the increasing discoveries of new stars and galaxies as our technology advances. We have expanded more on our space exploration that we find many new things with as much enthusiasm as the last, however small, or significant the discovery may be. Recently, some advancements have been made to aid our research regarding space and what we might be able to find. One of the recent findings NASA made was of a new comet that was recently found approaching earth, prompting stargazers and astronomy fans alike to watch out for them in the dawn and dusk sky.
For context, comets are rocky objects that are made up of ice, rock, and dust. They orbit the sun, and as they get close, they start to heat up, creating two tails. One made of dust and gas and the other made of ions. They usually take hundreds to thousands of years to fully orbit around the sun and appear around the earth’s orbit. This makes it a special occasion whenever astronomers and stargazers are given a chance to witness a comet in the sky or get information about a comet approaching earth's orbit. It's not every day or every year that you get to witness a comet, and it's not guaranteed to be the same comet as the last one, as there are many comets, and some comets haven't even been properly identified.
The newest comet discovered this year is Comet C/2020 F3. This comet is also dubbed as Comet NEOWISE after the telescope (Near–Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer) that it was used to find it when it happened to travel close to the earth’s atmosphere. This comet was discovered earlier this year on March 27, 2020 and it just had its closest approach to the sun on July 3. This comet will appear until August, when it will travel farther away from the sun, never to be seen by humans for another 6,800 years to come. This comet is so bright that scientists took advantage of that brightness to observe this comet using different types of telescopes to find as much data as possible. The comet is considered average sized with a diameter of 5 kilometers and is travelling at a speed of 231,000 km/h.
Throughout July, many stargazers have tried to see and find this comet in the sky. During the first few weeks of July, the comet could only be seen by early dawn, when the sun hasn’t risen yet. Stargazers were forced to wake up early in the morning to witness the comet. By the end of July, however, the comet could also be seen two hours after sunset. The comet was closest to earth on July 23, where many stargazers witnessed the comet with the untrained eye, although using binoculars or telescopes would've been immensely helpful. However, as August rolls in, the comet starts losing brightness from the sky, meaning that the comet is beginning to leave the vicinity of space near earth and spend the rest of its 6,800 years travelling through space before it comes back to orbit the sun.
Comets are not too rare, but it is quite uncommon, especially when people get to witness it in the night sky. It will be an exceptionally long time coming until anyone can see Comet NEOWISE, but there are still many other comets being discovered, and there are some comets that came back from their orbit, ready to orbit around the sun again. Next time a comet comes into orbit around the sun, maybe you should make the change to stargaze and find the comet in the night sky. Who knows? Maybe that comet will not come back for another thousand years.
References
Carter, Jamie. “How To Find Comet NEOWISE While You're Outside For The Perseid Meteor Shower This Week.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 8 Aug. 2020, www.forbes.com/sites/jamiecartereurope/2020/08/10/how-to-find-comet-neowise-while-youre-outside-for-the-perseids-meteor-shower/.
Gohd, Chelsea. “Comet NEOWISE: 10 Big Questions (and Answers) about the Icy Wanderer.” Space.com, Space, 19 July 2020, www.space.com/comet-neowise-strange-facts.html.
Rao, Joe. “The Curtain Is about to Come down on Comet NEOWISE.” Space.com, Space, 24 July 2020, www.space.com/comet-neowise-is-dimming.html.
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