• Neowise Comet Orbit Path 2020
• Neowise Comet Orbital Elements
• Comet Neowise How Long
• Comet Neowise Orbital Path Diagram

C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) or Comet NEOWISE is a retrograde comet with a near-parabolic orbit discovered on March 27, 2020, by astronomers using the NEOWISE space telescope. The term 'near-parabolic' hyperlinks to Parabolic trajectory. Probably the 'near' part should not be part of the link. The Comet Neowise or C/2020 F3 is seen before sunrise over Balatonmariafurdo, Hungary, Tuesday, July 14, 2020. It passed closest to the Sun on July 3, and its closest approach to Earth will occur. Comet Neowise survived its closest approach to the Sun, when it was most in danger of breaking apart from gravitational forces, last Friday, July 3. It will pass within 65 million miles of the. In July 2020, comet NEOWISE (short for C/2020 F3 NEOWISE) has thrilled skywatchers in North America, in Europe, and in space. If you don’t spot the comet this time around, you won’t get another chance. It has a long, elliptical orbit, so it will be approximately 6,800 years before NEOWISE returns to the inner parts of the solar system. A recently discovered comet known as NEOWISE (C/2020 F3) is speeding towards the sun in its orbit around our star, and some astronomers are predicting it may become visible to the naked eye.

What is WISE/NEOWISE?

NASA's WISE (Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer) spacecraft was an infrared-wavelength astronomical space telescope active from December 2009 to February 2011. In September 2013 the spacecraft was assigned a new mission as NEOWISE to help find near-Earth asteroids and comets.

• NEOWISE hunts near-Earth objects from low-Earth orbit.
• The spacecraft orbits Earth once every 95 minutes – 15 times per day.

Key Dates

Neowise Comet Orbit Path 2020

Dec. 14, 2009: Launch

Jan. 2010 to Feb. 2011:Primary mission

February 2011: Spacecraft placed in hibernation

Sept. 2013-Present: NEOWISE operations ongoing

In Depth: WISE/NEOWISE

NASA's WISE (Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer) spacecraft was successfully launched to near-Earth orbit December 14, 2009, to serve as an infrared-wavelength astronomical space telescope.

WISE surveyed the full sky in four infrared wavelength bands (3.4, 4.6, 12 and 22 μm) until the frozen hydrogen cooling the telescope was depleted in September 2010.

The spacecraft was placed into hibernation in February 2011 after completing its search of the inner solar system.

In late 2013, the spacecraft was reactivated and assigned a new mission as NEOWISE to help NASA identify and characterize the population of near-Earth objects (NEOs). NEOs are comets and asteroids that have been nudged into orbits that allow them to enter Earth's neighborhood.

Observations resumed in December 2013 and just six days later NEOWISE discovered its first potentially hazardous near-Earth asteroid: 2013 YP139.

Neowise Comet Orbital Elements

Potentially hazardous asteroids (PHAs) are asteroids that could one day threaten Earth. Near-Earth objects are classified as PHAs based on their size and how closely they can approach Earth's orbit.

As of mid-July 2019, NEOWISE was 24% of the way through its 12th coverage of the sky since reactivation. Over 830,000 infrared measurements have been made of 34,644 different solar system objects, including 1024 NEOs and 172 comets.

The Principal Investigator for NEOWISE is Amy Mainzer of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California.

JPL manages and operates the NEOWISE mission for NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office within the Science Mission Directorate in Washington.

Key Resources

Comet Neowise How Long

Comet Neowise Orbital Path Diagram