Hubble Captures Comet NEOWISE

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured the closest images yet of the sky’s latest visitor to make the headlines, comet C/2020 F3 NEOWISE, after it passed by the Sun. This color image of the comet was taken on 8 August 2020.

The two structures appearing on the left and right sides of the comet's center are jets of sublimating ice from beneath the surface of the nucleus, with the resulting dust and gas bring squeezed through at a high velocity. The jets emerge as cone-like structures, then are fanned out by the rotation of the comet's nucleus.