Comet (C/2020 F8) SWAN
Comet (C/2020 F8) SWAN was discovered by Michael Mattiazzo in data taken on March 25, 2020 from the Solar Wind Anisotropies (SWAN) camera on the Solar and Heliospheric Observer (SOHO) spacecraft. He informed on April 10 his community [ see here ] and the ground-based comet hunt started!
The first ground-based observation was made on April 9 by Martin Masek at Pierre Auger Observatory/Argentina. We confirmed this comet with powerful coma and long tail on April 12 shortly before sunrise in Siding Spring/Australia. The discovery was accepted with the Minor Planet Electronic Circular MPEC 2020-G94.
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See Comet (C/2020 F8) SWAN by naked-eye
The brightness of comets are notoriously hard to predict. Universe Today und Space.com say that Comet Swan will be easily seen with naked-eye after Mai 17, 2020. However, there are zero guarantees.
What we do know is that will get closest to the Earth on May 13, 2020, and closest to the Sun (perehelion) on May 27, 2o2o. That’s when it should begin to be at its brightest. By then it will be in the constellations of Perseus and Auriga, both visible from the northern hemisphere.
