Comet NEOWISE

C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) or Comet NEOWISE is a long period comet with a near-parabolic orbit discovered on March 27, 2020, by astronomers during the NEOWISE mission of the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) space telescope. At that time, it was an 18th-magnitude object, located 2 AU (300 million km; 190 million mi) away from the Sun and 1.7 AU (250 million km; 160 million mi) away from Earth. By July 2020, it was bright enough to be visible to the naked eye. It is one of the brightest comets in the northern hemisphere since Comet Hale–Bopp in 1997. Under dark skies, it can be seen with the naked eye[4] and might remain visible to the naked eye throughout most of July 2020.[5] As of July 24, the comet was about magnitude 4,[6] but binoculars are required near urban areas to locate the comet. The comet is getting further from the Sun and Earth, and a brightening waxing crescent moon is beginning to interfere with dark skies.