• Show in the sky in July: the Neowise comet is visible to the naked eye

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by Andrea Bettini 06 July 2020

With his yellow tail he has already begun to peep over the Italian skies. Early risers will have noticed it just before dawn, clearly visible even with the naked eye. No doubt: comet C / 2020 F3 NEOWISE is the most beautiful surprise of 2020 for astronomy enthusiasts, a show that will continue at least until the end of the month.

Extremely active and brilliant
Discovered on March 25, the comet originates from the Oort Cloud, on the edge of the Solar System. Immediately considered very promising by astronomers, she proved to be extremely active and brilliant. On July 3, it passed only 44 million kilometers from the Sun and, after having passed the close passage with our star unharmed, it is now approaching Earth. At the moment of maximum approach, between 22 and 23 July, it will be 104 million kilometers from us.

How to observe it
“In these days it is well observable before dawn, around 4.30 in the morning, on the North-East horizon - explains Albino Carbognani, researcher of the INAF Observatory of Astrophysics and Space Science in Bologna - As a reference you can use the planet Venus, which is the brightest object in the sky in the East, and look at about thirty degrees to its left, about ten degrees high. From 11 July it will be visible at sunset on the North-West horizon ".

The brightest in recent years
An opportunity not to be missed, because such shows are quite rare. “Such a bright comet is not very frequent - continues Albino Carbognani - This is a comet of first size and on average there is one of this type every ten years. The last comparable to NEOWISE, although a little more brilliant, was McNaught in 2007 ".

A tail of gas and dust
Comets are blocks of rock and ice that roam the space. To make them fascinating is above all the classic tail, which also reveals some of their secrets. "NEOWISE has a yellowish tail: it is a typical dust tail that reflects sunlight - explains Albino Carbognani - Other comets instead appear green because they emit mainly gas in space, which interacting with sunlight appears to green or blue. According to the color of the comet, astronomers can therefore understand what is prevalently the material that the nucleus emits and what it is made of ”.

Astronaut photos
The comet NEOWISE thrilled astrophotography lovers. Among the first to immortalize it, taking advantage of their decidedly privileged point of view, there were astronauts on board the International Space Station. Such an opportunity is rare even for those who live outside our planet.