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Comet NEOWISE: How to see comet flyby over UK skies – 'Once-in-a-lifetime close approach'
Jul 13, 2020
Space enthusiasts are occasionally treated to eclipses and meteor showers. But there is now a window to spot a far rarer celestial phenomenon - a comet .
Comet NEOWISE is hurtling close enough to the Earth to be easily visible as it streaks through our skies this month.
The comet has already been photographed behind many famous sites and cities around the globe NASA
Officially known as C/2020 F3, Comet NEOWISE can be seen with the naked eye once pinpointing with binoculars or a telescope.
Comet NEOWISE, named after the Near Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer telescope that first spotted it in March, has been delighting stargazers around the world.
The comet is currently millions of miles from Earth and during its closest approach on July 23 will still be 64 million miles off – approximately 400 times further away than the Moon.
Comet NEOWISE is the best comet visible from the UK in more than two decades (Image: Getty)
Comet NEOWISE: An astronomer captured a stunning image of Comet NEOWISE and the ISS over Rome (Image: Dr Gianluca Masi)
US-based space agency NASA said the comet was "putting on a spectacular night-time display". NASA added: "It made its once-in-our-lifetimes close approach to the Sun on July 3, 2020, and will cross outside Earth's orbit on its way back to the outer parts of the solar system by mid-August. "The interplanetary iceberg survived solar heating, so far, and is now becoming closer to the Earth as it starts its long trek back to the outer Solar System. "As Comet NEOWISE became one of the few naked-eye comets of the 21st Century, word spread quickly, and the comet has already been photographed behind many famous sites and cities around the globe."
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