![neowise comet neowise comet](https://scitechdaily.com/images/Comet-NEOWISE-ISS-Madrid-scaled.jpg)
And while our understanding of the ancient world is necessarily fragmentary, we at least understand the changes and the long-term historical trajectories and trends that led us from that moment in time in the ancient world to our civilization today. It’s mind-boggling to think how much human civilization has changed in that relatively short time span, at least when seen from the perspective of Comet NEOWISE, in the space of a single cometary orbit around the sun. The dawn of Ancient Greek philosophy in the 5th century BCE would still be around 2,000 years in the future at that point, with the dawn of Christianity some 500 years after that. The last time Comet NEOWISE was visible, the Assyrian Empire had only just been established around the year 2500 BCE. In thinking about the orbital period of Comet NEOWISE, I can’t help but reflect on the relatively spans of human history and human civilizations. Having missed seeing other notable cometary appearances, such as Halley’s Comet in 1986 when I was eight years old and Hale-Bopp in 1997, I was excited to finally see a comet with my own naked eyes.Īpparently Comet NEOWISE’s approach to the sun this time around increased its orbital period from approximately 4,500 years to approximately 6,800 years, which means that the last time this comet was visible was around 2480 BCE, give or take, and the next time it will be visible will be around the year 8820 CE. On a whim, last night we drove out to the countryside to catch a glimpse of Comet NEOWISE, which was only recently discovered in March of 2020 by astronomers using the NEOWISE infrared space telescope.