NEOWISE Was Wise to Travel by Earth in July

 Comet NEOWISE, or C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE), is a comet that made its way around the Earth in late July of 2020. The comet was first discovered on March 27, 2020, by the NEOWISE Satellite and was classified as a comet on March 31. The comet made its closest approach to the Sun on July 3, about 0.29 AU (1 AU is the distance from the Sun to the Earth). Because of this approach, the tail of the comet is larger than normal, making the comet more visible.

Picture of Comet NEOWISE Taken on July 14

The reason comet NEOWISE is so well known is because it is a very visible comet. The comet can be seen with the naked eye, which is very rare for a comet. Another comet that is similar to the comet NEOWISE is Comet Hale-Bopp, another comet that was visible with the naked eye from Earth. It was last seen in 1997.

Now, you may be wondering why the comet is named NEOWISE. Comet NEOWISE is named after the NEOWISE Satellite. The acronym NEOWISE means Near-Earth Object WISE. WISE was the original name of the satellite, which was repurposed in 2013. WISE stands for Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer.

Artists Rendering of
WISE Spacecraft

The purpose of the NEOWISE Satellite is to identify any Near-Earth objects. These objects include anything from comets to rogue asteroids. The NEOWISE satellite is an essential satellite for the protection of Earth.

Going back to comet NEOWISE, the comet intercepted the constellation Ursa Major and was visible by peering at the constellation, in the west. If you missed comet NEOWISE, that's too bad, cause it will be another 6800 years before we see the comet again!

Picture of Comet NEOWISE Taken on July 14, 2020

Sources:

“Comet NEOWISE.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 2 Dec. 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comet_NEOWISE. 

“Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 2 Nov. 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wide-field_Infrared_Survey_Explorer.