New comet comes near Earth - 10th August 2020

Comets are balls of frozen gas and rock in space. They travel near the sun from far out in the solar system. A new comet, Comet Neowise, was seen from Earth in July.

When a comet is warmed by the sun, some of the gas burns. This gives a comet its ‘tail’. Comet Neowise is unusually bright. People could see it without a telescope. It was seen just above the horizon with its tail pointing up.

The comet was nearest to the Earth on 23rd July, when it was 103 million kilometres away. This is 400 times further than the Moon. Comet Neowise and its tail were also seen more clearly from the International Space Station.

The comet’s name comes from NASA’s NEOWISE satellite, which searches space. It found this comet in March 2020. Neowise is about five kilometres across. This is an average size for a comet.

The comet travelled west across the sky during July. Now it has started moving back to the outer solar system. Because of its very long, thin orbit, the comet won’t return to the sun for 6,800 years.