https://phys.org/news/2018-12-comet-hunters-successfully-wirtanen-newly.html

"It is very exciting because the comet is so close and sufficiently bright for detailed astronomical studies," said Bonev. "Comet Wirtanen is only 30 lunar distances from our planet, meaning that it is about 30 times the distance to the moon. That is nothing compared to the vast distances astronomers typically work with."

NASA awarded Bonev's team telescope time on Sunday and Monday, December 16-17, at Keck Observatory to study Comet Wirtanen. The researchers used the Observatory's Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSPEC) for the first time on a comet since this powerful instrument's recent major upgrade.