So far you have heard of NEOWISE, the most spectacular comet to visit our little corner of the galaxy since Hale-Bopp passed over 20 years ago. But we are willing to bet that you have not actually seen it with your own eyes. That’s because until now, the only way to see this interstellar traveler was to wake up in the hours before sunrise; an especially difficult requirement considering that a large part of the population has become accustomed to sleeping in recent months.
But things are about to change as NEOWISE begins a new phase of its journey through our heavenly forest neck. Having reached 44.5 million kilometers (27.7 million miles) from the sun on July 3, the comet is now returning from our solar system. Thanks to the complex dance of the skies, that means that starting tonight, observers in the northern hemisphere will be able to see NEOWISE in the night sky just above the horizon.
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While NEOWISE may be overcoming a hasty retreat from the Sun right now, the comet is approaching us in the process. On July 22 it will reach perigee, that is, the point in its orbit closest to Earth. On that night, the comet will be approximately 103 million km (64 million miles) away. Not exactly a stone’s throw, but fairly close in astronomical terms. NEOWISE’s apparent brightness will naturally peak at perigee, but even during the lead-up to the big show, the comet should be visible to the naked eye 10-20 degrees above the north horizon.
Most estimates say NEOWISE should remain visible until at least mid-August, although it will dim quickly. After that, you will have to wait a while for the presentation to repeat. Given the orbit of this particular comet, it won’t reappear in our path for approximately 6,800 years, plus or minus a few lives.
NASA will host a live stream of NEOWISE tomorrow afternoon where researchers will answer questions about this once-in-a-lifetime celestial event, though we think you’ll get a lot more if you go out and look up.