Comet C/2020 P1 (NEOWISE) makes its closest approach to the Earth on Tuesday 13 October 2020, reaching a distance of 0.66 AU from the Earth (66% of the distance between the Earth and the Sun, or 98 534 000 km). At this distance the comet will be not naked eye visible, having a magnitude between 5.4 and 13 (depending on which estimation is used), which means that is may be visible with a good pair of binoculars though a moderate-sized telescope might be more reliable. The comet is currently in the Constellation of Sagitta, which is best observed from the Southern Hemisphere. The closest approach comes three days before the New Moon on Friday 16 October, so that the comet will not be obscured by the brightness of the Moon.
Comet C/2020 P1 (NEOWISE) was discovered on 2 August 2020 by the NEOWISE system on the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer satellite. The designation C/2020 P1 (NEOWISE) implies that it is a comet (C/), that it was the first comet-like body (1) discovered in the first half of Augusr 2020 (period 2020 P - the year being split into 24 half-months represented by the letters A-Y, with I being excluded), and that it was discovered by the NEOWISE system.
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