COMET NEOWISE
© NASA/ESA
Hubble’s spectacular eye was used to image a cosmic visitor, comet C/2020 F3, also known as NEOWISE. Comets can help astronomers learn about the conditions of the early Solar System, but this is the first time that such a bright comet has been imaged after passing the Sun so closely – at just 43 million kilometres (23 million miles). Most attempts at imaging comets are not successful because of the heat and gravitational forces which they are exposed to.