British Columbians are sharing more images of a recently discovered comet that will be only visible over B.C. for the next couple of weeks, before disappearing again for thousands of years.
And the comet will make its cloest approach to Earth tonight.
The Neowise comet, discovered in March by NASA’s Neowise infrared space telescope, reached its closest point to the sun on July 3, which caused the “frozen ice ball” to heat up and burn gas and dust off its surface.
NASA explains that, "This very close passage by the Sun is cooking the comet's outermost layers, causing gas and dust to erupt off the icy surface and creating a large tail of debris. And yet the comet has managed to survive this intense roasting."
Now, locals can capture a view of the astral display just below the Big Dipper when it reaches its closest proximity to earth, as it makes its celestial journey through the heavens above.
According to Space.com, the comet, "will be 0.69 AU (astronomical units, or the average Earth-sun distance) away from Earth, according to NASA's orbit calculator. That's about 64.3 million miles, or 103.5 million kilometers."
Currently, the comet is roughly as bright as the North Star, which may be observed under the cloak of night without the aid of a telescope. Of course, a telescope will always make for a more spectacular perspective.
Last of the #Neowise pics I took from @Manningpark. This about two hours after sunset. #NeowiseComet #space #Astrophotography #scicomm pic.twitter.com/CitWS8Jpm0
— Matthew Cimone (@NoBordFromOrbit) July 23, 2020
Comet NEOWISE pictures are being posted from around the world as it appears in the night sky, and Nanaimo’s astral shooters are producing a substantial portfolio of locally made comet images.https://t.co/38lDmXMX2s pic.twitter.com/1PrdnWirni
— T-shirtPrintingCo (@tshirtprinting_) July 23, 2020
#neowise... #2020 #comet https://t.co/ALHpfmweZp
— Narendra Kumar Vadapalli (@narenandu) July 22, 2020
This rare comet will be most visible in Canada over the next three days https://t.co/2Jp038hhwX
— Leslie Spencer (@FarthestShore) July 22, 2020
Not able to view the comet tonight?
You can watch it live on Space.com, courtesy of The Virtual Telescope Project, or you can watch it on YouTube.
Last week, a local astrophotographer shared a remarkable image of a rare comet and Aurora Borealis at Harrison Lake.
Liron Gertsman, a 19-year-old astrophotographer and astronomy enthusiast, tells Vancouver Is Awesome in an email that he's never had the opportunity to shoot a comet before. The last comet visible from the northern hemisphere that was comparable to Neowise was Comet Hale–Bopp in 1997, which was before he was born.
The previous night, Gerstman also photographed the comet from over English Bay, resulting in a very "Vancouver" landscape image featuring the comet. Read more and see the photos HERE.
