Discovered by NASA's space telescope, Comet NEOWISE became a spectacular naked-eye comet during the summer of 2020, observed by millions of isolated citizens from their backyards in Madrid, Spain, and across the Northern Hemisphere. Emerging during the bleakest early months of the global COVID-19 pandemic lock-downs, the comet's beautiful, glowing tail provided a rare, unifying source of outdoor wonder and distraction for a global population confined to their homes.

NEOWISE became an instant aesthetic icon within the literature of the pandemic era. Countless poets and isolation diarists incorporated the comet into their verses, transforming it from a traditional historical omen of doom into a poetic symbol of resilience, solitary reflection, and enduring hope amidst global crisis.