In the framework of the NEOWISE astronomical project, two comets were discovered in outer space at once approaching our planet, according to the official website of the National Aerospace Agency of the United States of America.
The first comet, a celestial body registered under the index C / 2016 U1 NEOWISE, was recorded on October 21, 2016. The comet will reach the point of its orbit closest to the Sun on January 14, 2017.
The second space object - 2016 WF9, unlike the first one, which has pronounced signs of a comet, is devoid of a dust cloud, that is, it can be an asteroid. The celestial body will approach the Earth on February 25, 2017 - the distance that will separate us from the asteroid will be five tens of millions of kilometers. A comet resembling an asteroid (or vice versa) was discovered on November 27, 2016.
Both comets, as the leaders of the NEOWISE project note, do not pose a threat to the Earth.
NEOWISE is a space exploration mission that surveys the space of the solar system using infrared scanning. A number of new facilities have already been opened within the framework of the program.
Kolesnikov Andrey