Comet NEOWISE (C/2020 F3) over Crawling Lake, southern Alberta, Canada on July 20, 2020. The Big Dipper is at top. The dust and ion tails are both visible. The blue ion tail is extending up into the bowl of the Big Dipper. This comet was discovered on 27th March 2020 by astronomers using the NEOWISE (Wide-Field Infrared Explorer) space telescope. It became visible to the naked eye by July 2020, and is one of the brightest comets since comet Hale-Bopp in 1997. It made its closest approach to the Sun on 3rd July 2020 at a distance of 43 million kilometres.