HYDERABAD: Attention, stargazers. A rare comet, currently around 200 million kilometres from Earth, is going to pass our planet. We, Earthlings, can witness the majestic Comet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) from Monday. Head up to your terraces because estimates suggest that the next time you can see this comet is in the year 8786.
“People can witness the majestic comet from any terrace or hill-top during the early hours of the morning or late in the night, given the sky is clear. The comet will be visible to the naked eye for around 20 minutes every day. On successive nights, the comet will grow fainter,” Director of BM Birla Planitoriam, Dr BG Sidharth, told Express.
Sidharth said NEOWISE will be visible from Monday (July 13), in the Northwest Constellation Lynx after 7.45 pm (IST), five degrees from the horizon. However, after around Wednesday (July 15), up until sometime in August, it will be visible from the country at night.
Comet C/2020 F3 was recently discovered by NASA’s Near Earth Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (NEOWISE) telescope on March 27, 2020. It is deemed to be one of the brightest comets to pass Earth in decades. NEOWISE’s infrared signature reveals that its nucleus or the main body is about 5-km wide. It is covered with ice and dust, leftover from when it was formed along with our solar system, 4.6 billion years ago.
While it is estimated that we can see one comet a year with our naked eye, ‘major’ comets, such as NEOWISE, can be seen from Earth on an average of every five to 10 years.