Comet C/2020 F3 NEOWISE and globular cluster M 53 – 6 Aug. 2020.

While slowly leaving the inner Solar System, comet C/2020 F3 NEOWISE is surfing our skies making very interesting “encounters”: last night, we caught it with globular cluster Messier 53.

Comet C/2020 F3 NEOWISE and globular cluster Messier 53. 6 Aug. 2020.

Comet C/2020 F3 NEOWISE and globular cluster Messier 53. 6 Aug. 2020.

The image above comes from the average of five, 60-seconds exposures, unfiltered, remotely taken with the “Elena” (PlaneWave 17″+Paramount ME+SBIG STL-6303E) robotic unit available as part of the Virtual Telescope Project. The sky was bright because of twilight.

Of course, this is just a matter of perspective: comet C/2020 F3 was at about 140 millions of km from us, while the Messier 53 globular cluster is placed at 58000 light years. To put these distances on the same scale, traveling at the speed of light you would reach the comet in a almost 8 minutes, but you would need 58000 years to reach the cluster!

We covered comet NEOWISE extensively: the image we already released are available for you to enjoy.

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