Look up, a comet is passing by!
NEOWISE. Have you heard this name over the past few days? Have you seen some of the beautiful pictures with flashes of light flying over the Northern hemisphere?
Did the name sound familiar? If you thought there might be a link with NEOROCKS, you were right!
The NEO prefix indicates that we are talking about a Near Earth Object, a body whose orbit brings it to proximity with Earth. Those bodies can be asteroids or comets. While our project focus on asteroids, NEOWISE is a bright comet, now still visible about an hour after dusk below the constellation of Ursa Mayor.
What’s the difference between an asteroid and a comet? Have a look at our Glossary, for that and other NEOROCKS terminology.
And if you want to know more about NEOWISE, it’s all here in this explanatory video from ESA. But be quick! Time is already running out if you want to see it for yourself. NEOWISE was at its closest point to Earth last night (23rd July) and it will be moving further away every night.
