Comet NEOWISE

comet discovered in 2020 by the WISE space telescope
(Redirected from C/2020 F3 (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.

C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE)
C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) photographed from Germany on July 14, 2020
Discovery
Discovered byNEOWISE
Discovery dateMarch 27, 2020
Orbital characteristics A
Epoch2458953.5 (April 14, 2020)
Observation arc113 days
Number of
observations
376
Orbit typeLong period comet
Aphelion538 AU (inbound)
710 AU (outbound)
Perihelion0.29478 AU
Semi-major axis270 AU (inbound)
355 AU (outbound)
Eccentricity0.99921
Orbital period~4400 yrs (inbound)
~6700 yrs (outbound)
Inclination128.93°
Node61.01°
Argument of
periapsis
37.28°
TJupiter−0.408
Earth MOID0.36 AU (54 million km; 140 LD)
Jupiter MOID0.81 AU (121 million km)
Dimensions~5 km (3 mi)
Last perihelionJuly 3, 2020
Next perihelionunknown

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

change
  1. Siegel, Ethan. "How To See Comet NEOWISE, Earth's Most Spectacular Comet Since 2007". Forbes. Retrieved 2020-07-13.