Recently more than 3 asteroid passed very close from earth. and now a new comet is coming towards earth. This commet called C/2020 F3 or Neowise. This is a very rare commet and this
was discovered in 27 March 2020 by astronomers using the NEOWISE space telescope.
The recently discovered comet called C/2020 F3, also known as NEOWISE after the NASA telescope that discovered it, will make its closest approach to the Earth on July 22. This comet will be clearly visible
in the north-western sky. It will be visible after sunset for around 20 minutes for the next 20 days. and specially People can observe it from naked eyes. The comet will be visible in India from July 14 onwards
as it soars across the solar system.
On 22th july this commet will be at a distance of 64 million miles or 103 million kilometers while crossing Earth’s outside orbit. And you should feel very lucky because this commet takes 6,800 years to
complete one lap around its orbit. So if you are watching it in 2020 this commet will be visible again in around 7000 years later.
On July 3, the comet was closest to the sun at 43 million km. On this day, the comet cruised inside Mercury’s orbit and, due to its proximity to the sun, its outer layer was released creating an atmosphere
of gas and dust from its icy surface which is reffered as coma. Scientists involved in the mission said the comet is about 3 miles (5 kilometers) across. Its nucleus is covered with sooty material dating
back to the origin of our solar system 4.6 billion years ago.
So now, you are probably thinking that what is comet?
So basically the commet is a celestial object and commets are mostly made of dust, rocks and ice, the remnants from time the solar system was formed over 4.6 billion years ago.
Comets can range in their width from a few miles to more than ten miles wide. As they orbit closer to the sun, like in the case of C/2020 F3, they heat up and release debris of dust and gases
that forms into a “glowing head” that can often be larger than a planet.
Millions of commets are orbiting the sun, But according to nasa there are more than 3,650 known comets as of now. Comets do not have light of their own and what humans are able to see from
Earth is the reflection of the sun’s light off the comet as well as the energy released by the gas molecules after it is absorbed from the sun.
Astronomers study comets since they believe that they hold important clues about the formation of the solar system and it is possible that comets brought water and other organic compounds,
which are the building blocks of life to Earth.