Rare Comets ‘C/2020 F3 Neowise "EMPOWER IAS"

News:

• The recently discovered comet called C/2020 F3, also known as NEOWISE after the NASA telescope that discovered it, will make its closest approach to the Earth on July 22.

 

About C/2020 F3 Neowise:

• The comet takes 6,800 years to complete one lap around its orbit, and will be at a distance of 64 million miles while crossing Earth’s outside orbit.
• On July 3, the comet was closest to the sun at 43 million km. On this day, the comet cruised inside Mercury’s orbit which is the closest planet to the Sun.
• Due to its proximity to the sun, its outer layer was released creating an atmosphere called coma – of gas and dust from its icy surface.

 

What are Comets?

• Comets or “dirty snowballs” are mostly made of dust, rocks and ice, the remnants from the time the solar system was formed over 4.6 billion years ago.
• The word comet comes from the Latin word “Cometa” which means “long-haired” and the earliest known record of a comet sighting was made by an astrologer in 1059 BC.
• Comets can range in their width from a few miles to tens of miles wide.
• While there are millions of comets orbiting the sun, there are more than 3,650 known comets as of now, according to NASA.

 

How do they illuminate?

• Comets do not have the light of their own and what humans are able to see from Earth is the reflection of the sun’s light off the comet as well as the energy released by the gas molecules after it is absorbed from the sun.
• The visibility cannot be precisely predicted since a lot depends on the way the “outbursts” of gas and dust play out determining how much of a “good show” the comet will put out for observers.
• As they orbit closer to the sun, they heat up and release debris of dust and gases that form into a “glowing head” that can often be larger than a planet.