 This ground-based C-2020 F3 neowise comet photo was taken on July 16, 2020, just 13 days after the comet's closest approach to the sun at a distance of 43 million kilometers or 27 million miles. Neowise stands for the Near Earth Object Wide Field Infrared Survey Explorer mission that discovered the comet. It is the brightest comet visible from the Northern Hemisphere since 1997's Halebop. Note the separate blue tail bearing off the top. Normal tails are pushed by sunlight. The blue tail contains ions, charged particles, that are pushed by the charged particles in the solar wind. It's headed to the outer solar system, currently traveling at 232,000 kilometers per hour. That's 144,000 miles per hour. It will not return to the sun for another 7,000 years. The inset image was taken by the Hubble telescope on August 8. Other comets often break apart due to thermal gravitational stresses at such close encounters with the sun, but neowise's solid nucleus stayed intact. Hubble's image zeroes in on the comet's nucleus, which is too small to be seen. It's estimated to measure no more than 4.8 kilometers or 3 miles across. Instead the image shows a portion of the comet's coma, which measures about 18,000 kilometers or 11,000 miles across.