C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE)

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C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE)

C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) photographed from France on July 13, 2020

Discovery

Discovered by NEOWISE

Discovery date March 27, 2020[1]

Orbital characteristics A

Epoch 2458953.5 (April 14, 2020)

Observation arc 70 days

Number of 353
observations

Orbit type Long period comet

 Aphelion 544 AU (inbound)

720 AU (outbound)

Perihelion 0.29478 AU

Semi-major axis 272 AU (inbound)

360 AU (outbound)

Eccentricity 0.99921

Orbital period ~4500 yrs (inbound)[2]

~6800 yrs (outbound)

Inclination 128.93°

Node 61.01°

Argument of 37.28°
periapsis

TJupiter -0.408

Earth MOID 0.36 AU (54 million km; 140 LD)

Jupiter MOID 0.81 AU (121 million km)

Dimensions ~5 km[1]

Last perihelion July 3, 2020

C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE), or Comet NEOWISE, is a retrograde comet with a near-

parabolic orbit discovered on March 27, 2020, by astronomers using
the NEOWISE space telescope. At that time, it was a 10th-magnitude comet, located
2 AU (300 million km; 190 million mi) away from the Sun and 1.7 AU (250 million km;
160 million mi) away from Earth.[3]
By July 2020, it was bright enough to be visible to the naked eye. For observers in
the northern hemisphere, in the morning, the comet appears low on the northern-
eastern horizon, below Capella. In the evening, the comet can be seen in the north-
western sky. In the second half of July 2020, Comet NEOWISE will appear to pass
 through the constellation of Ursa Major, below the asterism of the Big Dipper (The
Plough).[4]
The comet is notable for being one of the brightest visible to observers in the
northern hemisphere since Comet Hale–Bopp in 1997.[5] Under dark skies, it can be
clearly seen with the naked eye,[6] and is expected to remain visible to the naked eye
throughout most of July 2020.[3]

Contents

• 1History and observations

• 2Trajectory
• 3Gallery
• 4References
• 5External links

History and observations[edit]

Comet C/2020 F3 NEOWISE appears as a string of fuzzy red dots in this composite of several heat-
sensitive infrared images taken by NASA Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer
(NEOWISE) mission on March 27, 2020.

Diagram of the comet's nearly parabolic orbit

Video rendering of the images captured by the International Space Station from its orbit on July 5, 2020,
showing NEOWISE rising up against Earth

The object was discovered by a team using the NEOWISE space telescope on March
27, 2020.[1] It was classified as a comet on March 31 and named after NEOWISE on
April 1.[7] It has the systematic designation C/2020 F3, indicating a non-periodic comet
which was the third discovered in the second half of March 2020.
Comet NEOWISE made its closest approach to the Sun (perihelion) on July 3, 2020,
at a distance of 0.29 AU (43 million km; 27 million mi). This passage increases the
comet's orbital period from about 4500 years to about 6800 years.[2] Its closest
approach to Earth will occur on July 23, 2020, 01:14 UT, at a distance of
0.69 AU (103 million km; 64 million mi) while located in the constellation of Ursa
Major.[8]
Seen from Earth, the comet was less than 20 degrees from the Sun between June 11
and July 9, 2020. By June 10, 2020, as the comet was being lost to the glare of the
Sun, it was apparent magnitude 7, when it was 0.7 AU away from Sun & 1.56 AU
away from Earth.[9] When the comet entered the field of view of
the SOHO spacecraft's LASCO C3 instrument on June 22, 2020, the comet had
brightened to about magnitude 3, when it was 0.4 AU away from Sun & 1.4 AU away
from Earth.[9] By early July, Comet NEOWISE had brightened to magnitude −1,[10][11] far
exceeding the brightness attained by C/2020 F8 (SWAN), and had developed a
second tail. The first tail's color is magenta and made of gas and ions; the second
twin tail is a golden color and made of dust, like the tail of Comet Hale-Bopp, this
combination resembles comet C/2011 L4 (PANSTARRS). The comet is brighter
than C/2011 L4 (PANSTARRS), but not as bright as Hale–Bopp was in 1997.
According to the British Astronomical Association, the comet brightened from a
magnitude of about 8 at the beginning of June to -2 in early July.[12] This would make it
brighter than Hale Bopp. However, as it was very near to the Sun, it was reported as
0 or +1 magnitude and remained that bright for only a few days. After perihelion, the
comet began to fade at about the same rate as it had previously brightened.
From the infrared signature Joseph Masiero estimates the diameter of the comet
nucleus to be approximately 5 km (3 mi).[1] The nucleus is similar in size to
many short-period comets such as 2P/Encke, 7P/Pons-
Winnecke, 8P/Tuttle, 14P/Wolf, and 19P/Borrelly.[13] By July 5 NASA's Parker Solar
Probe had captured an image of the comet, from which astronomers also estimated
the diameter of the comet nucleus at approximately 5 km.[14]