Published 19:22 IST, July 22nd 2020
Neowise July 22 Location: Know when and where to find the dazzling comet tonight
The space-born visitor Comet Neowise is dazzling the skies on Earth this month. Here is where one can spot this fast-moving ball of ice tonight.
Outer space visitor Comet NEOWISE was spotted for the first time by NASA in March 2020 with the help of its Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (NEOWISE) telescope. Although to us NEOWISE is only four months old, this icy outer space comet is actually 4.6 billion years old. NASA has confirmed that Comet NEOWISE is older than Earth itself and as old as our Solar System. Alongside Comet NEOWISE NASA’s telescope had discovered two other comets, Comet ATLAS and Comet SWAN. However, only NEOWISE stood the test of time when it made its slingshot around our fiery star, the Sun and still maintained its trajectory, while the other two gradually fizzled out of existence.
NEOWISE July 22 location: How to find NEOWISE tonight?
Space Enthusiasts marvelled at Comet Hale-Bopp which graced the Earth’s sky in 1997. Comet Hale-Bopp had put on a grand show and remained visible for a year and a half since its first appearance. Nearly 23 years later, Comet NEOWISE is putting on a spectacular show for the sky watchers in Earth’s Northern Hemisphere. NASA reports claim that Comet NEOWISE will likely look like a fuzzy star with a bit of a tail.
NASA has also revealed that on July 22 and 23, Comet NEOWISE will make its closest approach around Earth’s orbit. It will only be 64 million miles or 103 million kilometres from earth’s orbit. Hence stargazers can get closest and clearest views of this icy comet on the two days. Reports of a space portal, claim that during evening time Comet NEOWISE will appear in Northwestern skies. Apart from this, it will also be visible 45 to 60 minutes before the sunrise towards the northeast of the sky.
Comet NEOWISE Time and location
On July 22 Comet NEOWISE will appear under the Big Dipper. The Big Dipper is not a constellation in itself, they are a group of stars that appears as a part of the Ursa Major constellation. However, all the stargazers need to know that the stellar show, that Comet NEOWISE is currently putting on is going to be short-lived.
Every evening the comet is climbing higher in the sky until eventually, it will fade from view entirely and venture into deep space. The next time Comet NEOWISE will be spotted in Earth’s sky will be in the year 8,820CE. The last time it was visible, Stone Henge one of the most iconic prehistoric monuments in the world was only 500 years old, while today it is over 5,000 years old. Also the last time NEOWISE had appeared, the pyramids weren’t built yet.
Updated 19:22 IST, July 22nd 2020