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Discovered in March 2020, Comet NEOWISE became visible to the naked eye in July, gifting observers in the northern hemisphere with the first ‘great comet\u2019 in over 20 years. The comet, which is on\u00a0an almost parabolic orbit and had its closest approach to the Sun, or perihelion, in early July, reaches its closest point to Earth on 22\u201323 July, before zipping back towards the outer Solar System.<\/p>\n
In this video, ESA Research Fellows Rachana\u00a0Bhatawdekar and Sandor Kruk share their experience and explain how to observe and image the comet in the sky. Next, ESA Research Fellow Charlotte G\u00f6tz tells us more about comets and their tails, and how ESA\u2019s future Comet Interceptor mission, to be launched in 2028, is going to wait for such a \u2018great\u2019 comet that has not been discovered yet. The spacecraft will sit in a parking orbit around the Lagrange point L2, 1.5 million kilometres away from Earth, until an interesting \u2018pristine\u2019 comet visits the inner Solar System. It will then intersect the comet’s orbit to study its nucleus, gases, dust, and plasma environment.<\/p>\n