Comet Neowise has made its closest pass on Earth, giving sky watchers around the world the best chance of seeing the celestial visitor.
It is one of the few comets of this century that can be seen with the naked eye, and has been visible throughout the month of July.
The night of July 22 marked the point of perigee, or the closest distance to Earth, before it begins its journey back to the far reaches of the solar system.
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The comet was first discovered in March, although its distance from Earth made detection difficult. It was feared to disintegrate as it flew alongside the sun, yet it remained intact to approach Earth.
At its closest point, Neowise was 64.3 million miles from Earth, according to NASA’s orbit calculator.
For sky watchers in the northern hemisphere, the best time to see the comet is about an hour after sunset in the Ursa Major constellation. This can be found just below the popular constellation Big Dipper, also known as Plow.
For those in areas with poor visibility due to bad weather or light pollution, the Virtual Telescope Project will broadcast a live stream of the comet on YouTube.
Some astronomers have complained that the Starlink satellite network has obstructed the comet’s views, with time-lapse images streaking across the sky.
There are currently more than 400 Starlink satellites in orbit around Earth as part of SpaceX’s plan to transmit high-speed Internet to Earth.
The private space firm eventually hopes to form a constellation of around 12,000 satellites, although it is already taking steps to make them less visible.
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NASA / ESA / STScI
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NASA / JPL-Caltech / MSSS
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Arrokoth, the most distant object ever explored, photographed here on January 1, 2019 by a camera on NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft 4.1 billion miles from Earth.
Getty
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An image of the Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy seen in infrared light by the Herschel Space Observatory in January 2012. Regions of space like this are where new stars are born from a mixture of elements and cosmic dust.
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The first image of a black hole, captured by the Event Horizon Telescope, as part of a global collaboration involving NASA, and released on April 10, 2019. The image reveals the black hole at the center of Messier 87, a Massive galaxy in the nearby Virgo galaxy cluster. This black hole resides about 54 million light years from Earth.
Getty
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Pluto, as shown on NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft when it first flew over the dwarf planet in July 2015
NASA / APL / SwRI
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A coronal mass ejection seen by the Chandra Observatory in 2019. This is the first time that Chandra has detected this phenomenon from a star other than the Sun.
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The dark, narrow, 100-meter-long streaks that ran downhill on the surface of Mars were believed to be evidence of contemporary running water. Since then it has been suggested that they may instead be made of flowing sand
NASA / JPL / University of Arizona
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Morning Aurora: NASA astronaut Scott Kelly captured this photograph of the green lights of dawn from the International Space Station in October 2015.
NASA / Scott Kelly
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Mystic Mountain, a gas and dust pillar three light-years high, filled with gas jets of fledgling stars buried inside, was captured by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope in February 2010.
NASA / ESA / STScI
2/10
The first selfie taken on an alien planet, captured by NASA’s Curiosity Rover in the early days of its mission to explore Mars in 2012
NASA / JPL-Caltech / MSSS
3/10
Death of a star: This image from NASA’s Chandra X-ray telescope shows Tycho’s supernova, a star in our galaxy, the Milky Way
Pot
4/10
Arrokoth, the most distant object ever explored, photographed here on January 1, 2019 by a camera on NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft 4.1 billion miles from Earth.
Getty
5/10
An image of the Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy seen in infrared light by the Herschel Space Observatory in January 2012. Regions of space like this are where new stars are born from a mixture of elements and cosmic dust.
Pot
6/10
The first image of a black hole, captured by the Event Horizon Telescope, as part of a global collaboration involving NASA, and released on April 10, 2019. The image reveals the black hole at the center of Messier 87, a Massive galaxy in the nearby Virgo galaxy cluster. This black hole resides about 54 million light years from Earth.
Getty
7/10
Pluto, as shown on NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft when it first flew over the dwarf planet in July 2015
NASA / APL / SwRI
8/10
A coronal mass ejection seen by the Chandra Observatory in 2019. This is the first time that Chandra has detected this phenomenon from a star other than the Sun.
Pot
9/10
The dark, narrow, 100-meter-long streaks that ran downhill on the surface of Mars were believed to be evidence of contemporary running water. Since then it has been suggested that they may instead be made of flowing sand
NASA / JPL / University of Arizona
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Morning Aurora: NASA astronaut Scott Kelly captured this photograph of the green lights of dawn from the International Space Station in October 2015.
NASA / Scott Kelly
Comet Neowise will continue to be visible for days to come, but it will slowly become increasingly difficult to see.
Apps like SkyPortal and SkySafari 6 will help budding astronomers locate it as it disappears from Earth.
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