Do you recognise the object in the photo? This is a close-up photo of comet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) that fascinated astronomy enthusiasts in July this year.

Astronomers had discovered this comet in March this year. It brightened to naked-eye level in late June and eventually became the brightest comet visible from the Northern Hemisphere since comet Hale-Bopp in 1997 in early July. Although comet NEOWISE has become difficult to observe from the ground since then, the Hubble Space Telescope took a photo of its core on August 8. At that time, the two were about 43 million kilometres apart. The image spanned about 18,000 kilometres across. However, the diameter of the comet's nucleus is estimated to be less than 4.8 kilometres across, even the Hubble Space Telescope was unable to see its surface.

In the photo, you can also see a pair of jets in opposite directions near the comet's nucleus, which is believed to be the gas and dust squeezed out from the sublimating ice on comet NEOWISE. It can be seen that comet NEOWISE remains intact after its closest approach to the Sun without breaking apart.