- NASA astronauts living aboard the International Space Station witnessed how the comet Neowise recently soared above the extremity of Earth.
- Astronauts photographed what they saw on July 5 in a series of time-lapse photographs.
- Then a UK graphic artist downloaded all the images, edited them into a 4K movie in real time, and released the 7-minute video on YouTube.
- Comet Neowise is leaving the solar system and will not return for approximately 6,800 years, but it will be highly visible approximately 80 minutes after sunset July 14-19.
- Visit the Business Insider home page for more stories.
In the dark of the orbital night on July 5, a NASA astronaut floated to a window on the International Space Station, looked down at the tip of the Earth, and patiently waited for a cosmic spectacle.
As the space station circled the Middle East, the recently discovered Neowise comet and its bright twin tails rose above the pre-dawn horizon. Then, almost as fast as the space rock spitting dust and gas appeared, it faded into the blinding glare of the sun.
“Just before the sun came up, that comet became visible during that short period of time when it was still close to the sun, but Earth was still hiding it,” said NASA astronaut Bob Behnken, who recently launched into the ISS on board. SpaceX’s new Crew Dragon spacecraft told The New York Times podcast “The Daily” from orbit on July 7. “It was an incredible sight to be able to see”
Fortunately for all of us, we don’t have to risk our lives into space to see such a scene, or even imagine it: Behnken and his colleagues recorded thousands of photographs, which UK-based graphic artist Seán Doran (who regularly processes images from the space agency) downloaded from a NASA image archive and then edited into an impressive time-lapse movie.
“Have a cold drink, turn off the lights, undress, get comfortable and put this on the big TV,” Doran tweeted on July 9 with a short video, adding, “Drink while you drink.”
Although Doran initially shared a version of the accelerated video four times, he then uploaded an ultra-high-definition 4K video to his YouTube channel showing the sequence in real time.
This real-time replay gives viewers of the 7-minute film (below) a taste of what it’s like to be aboard the space station as it flies 250 miles above Earth at a speed of 17,500 mph and sees a comet ascend. .
Look, Comet Neowise will not return for millennia.
Scientists operating a NASA telescope called the Wide Field Infrared Reconnaissance Explorer, or WISE, discovered the comet on March 27. Formally known as C / 2020 F3, the comet is named Comet Neowise after the telescope’s new mission to find a potentially dangerous nearby Earth. objects or NEOs.
On July 3, Comet Neowise approached the sun about 10 million miles closer to Mercury’s orbit. Along the way, the 3-mile (5-kilometer) ice ball heated up enough to spray two tails, one made of gas and the other of dust, stretching millions of miles into space.
The comet is expected to get closer to Earth on July 23, when it is about 64 million miles away, according to NASA JPL calculations. Astronomers expect it to be visible to the naked eye on a dark night until early August.
A stork is found on a pillar of power lines when Comet C / 2020 F3 (NEOWISE) is seen in the sky above the town of Kreva, about 100 km northwest of Minsk, in early July 13, 2020.
Sergei Gapon / AFP via Getty Images
But Comet Neowise does not stay, nor will it make a return within our lives: the object is approaching the outer fringes of our solar system, and will not return to the inner solar system for approximately 6,768 years.
To see the comet for yourself, wake up before sunrise and look up at the sky near the horizon. However, from July 14 to 19, Space.com reports that the comet will have its best “prime time” schedule at night, approximately 80 minutes after sunset.
On Monday, several amateur astronomers reported that the comet was possibly breaking or breaking, which is not unusual for a rock held together by frozen gases, dust and sand. However, researchers contacted by Business Insider discredited that idea, saying that errors in telescope mounting or photography led to what appears (but is not) a fragmented comet.
“I have seen a photo taken a few hours ago … and the comet looks healthy,” Quanzhi Ye, an astronomer at the University of Maryland, told Business Insider in an email Monday. “So no, there is no clear evidence that the comet is breaking up that I know of.”
