Comet NEOWISE
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.
_on_Jul_14_2020_aligned_to_stars.jpg.webp) C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) photographed from Germany on July 14, 2020 | |
| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | NEOWISE |
| Discovery date | March 27, 2020 |
| Orbital characteristics A | |
| Epoch | 2458953.5 (April 14, 2020) |
| Observation arc | 113 days |
| Number of observations | 376 |
| Orbit type | Long period comet |
| Aphelion | 538 AU (inbound) 710 AU (outbound) |
| Perihelion | 0.29478 AU |
| Semi-major axis | 270 AU (inbound) 355 AU (outbound) |
| Eccentricity | 0.99921 |
| Orbital period | ~4400 yrs (inbound) ~6700 yrs (outbound) |
| Inclination | 128.93° |
| Node | 61.01° |
| Argument of periapsis | 37.28° |
| TJupiter | −0.408 |
| Earth MOID | 0.36 AU (54 million km; 140 LD) |
| Jupiter MOID | 0.81 AU (121 million km) |
| Dimensions | ~5 km (3 mi) |
| Last perihelion | July 3, 2020 |
| Next perihelion | unknown |
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.
The comet is notable for being one of the brightest visible to observers in the northern hemisphere since Comet Hale–Bopp in 1997.[1]
References
- Siegel, Ethan. "How To See Comet NEOWISE, Earth's Most Spectacular Comet Since 2007". Forbes. Retrieved 2020-07-13.
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