NEOWISE, Comet Discovered By JPL In Pasadena, Puts On Spectacular Show Across Northern Hemisphere

PASADENA (CBSLA) —  A newly discovered comet is making a spectacle of itself in the skies this month.

NEOWISE is the brightest comet visible from the Northern Hemisphere in a quarter-century. It was discovered by NASA's Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer on March 27, and named C/2020 F3 NEOWISE, but is best known by astronomers as NEOWISE. NEOWISE is a project of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena.

The comet has been spotted around the world, and even by astronauts on the International Space Station.

NASA's Parker Solar Probe's WISPR instrument captured images that more clearly showed the twin tails of the comet. According to NASA, the lower tails of the comet is made up of dust off the surface of the comet's nucleus, while its upper tail is made up of gases that have been ionized by losing electrons in the sun's light.

The comet is currently headed in Earth's direction. NASA says it will be closest to Earth on July 22, when it will pass at a distance of about 64 million miles, and can be easily seen with binoculars. NEOWISE is not expected to revisit Earth for many thousands of years.

For how to best spot NEOWISE, NASA has some skywatching tips.