KEY POINTS

  • Comet NEOWISE appeared over Falcon 9 in a photo taken by SpaceX
  • The Falcon 9 rocket deployed a new military satellite into space
  • Comet NEOWISE will reach its closest distance to Earth this week

SpaceX posted a stunning photo of the visible comet NEOWISE as it flew over the Falcon 9 rocket at a launch pad in Florida. The image was taken before the rocket launched to deliver a new military satellite into space.

The rare photo was snapped by SpaceX on Monday as the company prepared for the latest launch of the Falcon 9 rocket from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. In the photo, comet NEOWISE can be seen flying across the sky right above the rocket.

As noted by SpaceX, the image was captured before Falcon 9 launched for its latest mission, which involved deploying South Korea’s first dedicated military satellite ANASIS-II into space.

The comet, which was first discovered by NASA’s Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (NEOWISE) telescope on March 27, is currently moving toward its closest distance to Earth. This event is expected to take place on July 22. During this time, comet NEOWISE will be about 64 million miles from the planet.

Over the past couple of weeks, the comet’s increasing brightness has caught the attention of the public. As indicated in various reports, the comet became bright enough to be spotted from Earth even without the use of special equipment.

According to NASA, the best time to spot the comet is right after sunset. It usually appears in the northwest portion of the sky below the Big Dipper constellation.

“If you’re looking at the sky without the help of observation tools, Comet NEOWISE will likely look like a fuzzy star with a bit of a tail, so using binoculars or a small telescope is recommended to get the best views of this object,” NASA said in a statement.

The agency noted that as comet NEOWISE moves closer to Earth, it will appear higher in the sky. During the next couple of days, those in the Northern Hemisphere can expect to see the comet right below or even next to the Big Dipper.

After its near-Earth approach this week, comet NEOWISE will not return to the Solar System within the next 6,800 years.

Comet NEOWISE
An unprocessed image from the WISPR instrument on board NASA’s Parker Solar Probe shows comet NEOWISE on July 5, 2020, shortly after its closest approach to the Sun. The Sun is out of frame to the left. The faint grid pattern near the center of the image is an artifact of the way the image is created. The small black structure near the lower left of the image is caused by a grain of dust resting on the imager’s lens. NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Naval Research Lab/Parker Solar Probe/Brendan Gallagher
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