Comet NEOWISE to shine in the sky once again
After comet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE), which we could observe with the naked eye in the summer, the Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (NEOWISE) satellite discovered another comet. Comet C/2020 P1 (NEOWISE) was discovered on August 2, 2020, as an object of the 19th magnitude.
“The inclination of the plane of the comet´s orbit to the plane of the ecliptic is up to 45 degrees. During tits crossing through the perihelion on October 20, 2020, at a distance of 0.34 astronomical units from the Sun, it brightened to a magnitude of 8.5. The brightness will be reduced from 10.5 magnitude to magnitude 12 from October 26 to November 3,” said Doc. RNDr. Ján Svoreň, DrSc. from the Astronomical Institute SAS.
According to the astronomer, at the end of October and the beginning of November, the comet will also be observable from Slovakia, however not with the naked eye but with small and medium-sized telescopes. “You can find the comet in the morning sky following the attached map in the Virgo constellation and later in the Boötes constellation,” added Ján Svoreň.
Edited by: Monika Tináková
Photo: Ján Svoreň, AI SAS