C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE)

The image reveals the bright dust tail, shaped by solar radiation pressure, as well as the fainter ion tail, driven directly away from the Sun by the solar wind. The comet’s coma surrounds the nucleus and consists of gas and dust released as volatile ices sublimate under increasing solar heating.

C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) became one of the most prominent comets of recent decades, visible to the naked eye in mid-2020, offering a rare opportunity to observe a dynamically young comet from the outer regions of the Solar System.