"Comet NEOWISE: A Celestial Spectacle of 2020"
Comet NEOWISE, the brightest comet to grace Northern Hemisphere skies in decades, thrilled skywatchers in July 2020. Discovered by NASA's NEOWISE spacecraft, the comet has a nucleus measuring roughly 5 kilometers in diameter and its dust and ion tails stretch hundreds of thousands to millions of kilometers. NEOWISE made its closest approach to the Sun on July 3 and is expected to make its closest approach to Earth on July 22. Viewers can spot the comet after sunset, below the Big Dipper in the northwest sky, and it won't be visible again for approximately 6,800 years.