Comet 220P/McNaught Brightens After Two Outbursts, Now Visible With Binoculars

NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day for August 24, 2026, featured periodic Comet 220P/McNaught, which is normally too faint to see without a telescope [1]. Two unexpected outbursts this year left it roughly 20,000 times brighter than usual, making it observable with binoculars and in long-exposure photographs [1]. The comet continues on its orbit between Mars and Jupiter with a period of more than five years, and the featured long-duration exposure, taken in South Africa 10 days earlier, showed its green head and a short dust tail [1].

Sources

1. science.nasa.gov · APOD: 2026 August 24 – Comet 220P in Outburst Aug 24, 2026
2. science.nasa.gov · APOD: 2026 August 22 – Mostly Perseids Aug 22, 2026

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