Russian cosmonaut Ivan Vagner, who is part of the ISS crew, managed to capture comet C / 2020 F3 / NEOWISE /, Russian News Agency TASS reported. The photo was posted on Wagner’s Twitter page.
Correction: in the photo you can see a comet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE)! https://t.co/s6IjdQKRVD
— Ivan Vagner (@ivan_mks63) July 4, 2020
“The photo shows the brightest comet in 7 years – C / 2020 F3 / NEOWISE /”, with the accompanying text to the image. The astronaut also notes that silver mesospheric clouds are also present in the photograph. On the next orbit of the ISS around Earth, Vagner was able to capture the comet even closer.
During the next revolution I tried to capture the C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) comet a bit closer, the brightest one over the last 7 years.
Its tail is quite clearly visible from the @Space_Station!#ISS #comet #NEOWISE pic.twitter.com/FnWkCummD6
— Ivan Vagner (@ivan_mks63) July 4, 2020
In the coming days, the comet will be able to be observed from Earth in the pre-morning sky low above the northeastern horizon around the constellation Auriga. The celestial body was discovered in the spring of 2020 using the NEOWISE infrared telescope.