Comet C/2020 F3-NEOWISE

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has captured a unique view of comet NEOWISE on July 5, 2020.

The comet was discovered by NASA’s Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or NEOWISE, on March 27, 2020.

Since then, the comet also called C/2020 F3 NEOWISE and nicknamed comet NEOWISE — has been spotted by several NASA spacecraft.

It will make its closest approach to the Earth on July 22. On the day, the comet, which takes 6,800 years to complete one lap around its orbit, will be at a distance of 64 million miles or 103 million kilometers while crossing Earth’s outside orbit.

What is comet: According to the NASA, comets are cosmic snowballs of frozen gases, rock and dust that orbit the Sun. When frozen, they are the size of a small town. When a comet’s orbit brings it close to the Sun, it heats up and spews dust and gases into a giant glowing head larger than most planets.

Source: NASA

CLICK HERE FOR UPSC PRELIMS CURRENT AFFAIRS MCQ

Written by 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *