Comet NEOWISE in the Evening Sky
July 2020 :
The first bright comet in over a decade and the brightest since Comet Hale-Bopp in 1997 has entered the northern hemisphere sky in July 2020.
Comet C/2020 F3 NEOWISE, detected by the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer satellite, arrived from the other solar system, reaching a perihelion of 0.29 AU on July 4. Since then, it has shown both ion and dust tails and its bright coma and tail are visible naked-eye and is a treat through binoculars. The comet reaches its closest point to Earth, at 0.69 AU, on July 23, and will remain visible in the evening sky for the next several weeks as it traverses through Ursa Major below the Big Dipper.
Start looking in the northwest about 45 minutes after sunset and it will become apparent as the skies darken.
C/2020 F3 NEOWISE in the morning sky on July 12 by Bob Horton
Comet NEOWISE TAKEN ON 2020-07-15 by Lloyd Merrill using Canon 7D and Sigma 70-200;
