Comet Neowise over Galway Bay.

Not as bright as I remember Hale-Bopp was but still very spectacular, comet Neowise is visible to the naked astronomer, close to the horizon just west of north between 11pm and 1am in Co. Clare, Ireland. You can see part of the The Plough (Ursa Major) above and to the left of the comet. Comets have been described as "dirty snowballs", a mixture of water ice, CO_2 and dust. This one's  a big snowball, 3 miles across, moving at 144,00 mph, so you wouldn't want to be hit on the back of the neck by a rascally schoolboy (or girl).  It won't be seen again for another 6,800 years, by which time the Coronavirus pandemic will be over and Britain may have left Europe.