About ESA
The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.
Highlights
Latest
Space in Member States
Find out more about space activities in our 23 Member States, and understand how ESA works together with their national agencies, institutions and organisations.
Germany
Austria
Belgium
Denmark
Spain
Estonia
Finland
France
Greece
Hungary
Ireland
Italy
Luxembourg
Norway
The Netherlands
Poland
Portugal
Czechia
Romania
United Kingdom
Slovenia
Sweden
Switzerland
Science & Exploration
Exploring our Solar System and unlocking the secrets of the Universe
Go to topicAstronauts
Latest
Enabling & Support
Making space accessible and developing the technologies for the future
Go to topicLatest
Objects in the night
Skygazers across the Northern Hemisphere are being treated to stunning views of comet NEOWISE as it streaks past Earth. Amateur astrophotographer Javier Manteca got a bonus: the International Space Station and the comet are both seen transiting Madrid in this photo captured 11 July.
Taken at dawn, the picture is a composition of 17 stacked images exposed every 2.5 seconds to form the skyline.
Comet C/2020 F3 NEOWISE is named after NASA’s Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer mission that discovered it in March 2020. The comet completed its perihelion, or closest pass of the Sun, on 3 July and is headed back out of our Solar System, not to return for another 6800 years.
Comets are the icy remnants from the formation of the planets 4.6 billion years ago, prompting scientists to think of them as cosmic time capsules. Comets have distinctive tails caused by dust grains being swept away from the comet’s nucleus.
The comet's flyby of Earth is a rare opportunity to observe and collect data on these cosmic time capsules. Many spacecraft have observed the comet, including the ESA/NASA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory as well as astronauts on board the International Space Station.
ESA’s comet chaser Rosetta trailed comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko for two years before landing the Philae probe on its surface. The mission amassed a wealth of data that will be studied for years to come.
As comet NEOWISE zooms past Earth at a comfortable (and safe) distance of 103 million kilometres, stargazers can catch more views of the comet through July. Consult Earth and Sky or Astronomy Now for times and positions.
