Citizen scientist discovers a new comet

May 13 (UPI) -- A new comet was discovered by a citizen scientist analyzing online photographs taken from a satellite, NASA announced on Wednesday.

An Australian amateur astronomer, Michael Mattiazzo, spotted the comet while reviewing images taken by the Solar Wind Anisotropies, or SWAN, instrument aboard the satellite.

The finding marks the 3,932nd comet discovered using data from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, or SOHO, launched in 1995 to study the sun.

The instrument, designed to map variations in the flow of charged particles released from the sun, can also identify comets, which are typically a source of hydrogen in water.

Twelve comets have been discovered using SWAN instruments -- and Mattiazzo can claim credit for finding eight of them.

The new comet, officially called C/2020 FB (SWAN) but referred to as Comet SWAN, can be seen in an ultraviolet wavelength, called Lyman alpha, as emitting water at a rate of about 1.3 tons per second. The flow of water, which is made of hydrogen and oxygen, made the comet visible to SOHO's instruments.

Its closest approach to earth, at 53 million miles, occurred on Wednesday. Although the route of comets can be unpredictable, it is expected to make its perihelion, or closest approach to the sun, on May 27.

The comet is faintly visible to the unaided eye only in the Southern Hemisphere and immediately after sunrise, a rare example of a comet bright enough to be seen without a telescope.