It can be seen by observers from the sky at dawn. (Representative)
Bhubaneswar:
A new comet called C / 2020 F3 NEOWISE, discovered by the NASA Near Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer telescope, will be clearly visible to the naked eye from July 14, giving new hope to sky observers.
“Starting July 14, C / 2020 F3, a comet discovered on March 27, will be clearly visible in the northwest sky. It will be visible after sunset for about 20 minutes for the next 20 days. People can see it nakedly, “said deputy planetarium director Pathani Samanta, Odisha.
It can be seen by observers from the sky at dawn.
“A much better perspective of observation will be available in the evening sky from about July 14, when it appears low in the northwest sky (20 degrees from the horizon) for about 20 minutes. In the evenings to follow, the comet will quickly rise higher in the sky and be visible for a longer period of time, “said Dr Subhendu Pattnaik, deputy director of the Pathani Samanta planetarium, Bhubaneswar.
“Around July 30, it can be seen near Ursha Major (Saptarshi Mandal) at an altitude of 40 degrees and will be visible for one hour. After July, it will disappear very quickly and will not be visible to the naked eye. A pair of binoculars or a small telescope will improve its visibility, “he added.
Comets are cosmic snowballs of frozen gases, rocks and dust that revolve around the Sun on a very elliptical path. When frozen, they are the size of a few hundred kilometers and can be compared to the size of a small town. When a comet’s orbit brings it closer to the Sun, it heats up and melts, releasing a large amount of dust and gas into a giant glowing head larger than most planets.
Dust and gases form a tail that moves millions of miles away from the Sun in the opposite direction. There are probably billions of comets orbiting our Sun in the Kuiper Belt and in the even more distant Oort cloud. The current number of known comets is: 3,650.
(This story has not been edited by GalacticGaming staff and is automatically generated from a syndicated feed.)
