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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
National
Cormac O'Shea

Neowise Ireland: 'Comet of the century' to be at most visible tonight at this exact time

The "Comet of the century" is at the closest point it will be to the earth for 6,800 years today.

Neowise, discovered earlier this year by NASA, has been visible over Ireland and the world for the past few weeks.

But today, Thursday July 23, is the day the comet will be at its most visible before it begins to move further away.

Unfortunately the weather isn't great in many parts of the country but if you get a break in clouds you will definitely get a glimpse of the meteorite.

Today the comet is about 103 million kilometres away yet will be visible with the naked eye - that's four times the distance from the earth to the moon.

Make sure to look low into the night sky and in the northerly direction just after the sun sets.

The sun will set at around 9:30pm today in Ireland so that time should be perfect viewing.

The comet pictured above Ireland (David Moore, Astronomy Ireland magazine www.astronomy.ie)

And if you miss it today and for the next week or two you'll only have to wait another 6,800 years to see it again.

The comet has been seen many times already this month with stargazers taking to social media to share their pictures.

Met Eireann meteorologist Kieran Commins spotted the comet over Kildare on Sunday night and snapped some amazing photos.

Others reported seeing it over Galway, Cork and many other parts of Ireland with the meteorite so bright and noticeable.

If you do manage to get a picture of it make sure to send it in to news@irishmirror.ie or message us on Facebook.

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