NASA revisits Comet NEOWISE rising over Italy’s Adriatic Sea
A time-lapse assembled from more than 240 images captures the Great Comet of 2020 before dawn during its 2020 apparition.
NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day has featured a time-lapse of Comet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) rising over Italy’s Adriatic Sea before dawn on 8 July during the comet’s 2020 apparition.
The video combines more than 240 images captured over 30 minutes. It shows the comet moving above the sea, with bright, undulating noctilucent clouds in the foreground and distant stars behind it.
NASA describes NEOWISE as the Great Comet of 2020 and as one of the few comets visible to the unaided eye this century. The comet remained unexpectedly bright for more than a month during its passage through the inner Solar System.
Its ion and dust tails originated from a nucleus about five kilometres across. The feature credits the images to photographer Paolo Girotti.
NASA also said the Astronomy Picture of the Day website is moving from apod.nasa.gov to science.nasa.gov/apod. The featured footage records the comet’s 2020 appearance, rather than a new observation in 2026.
