Comets [ http://seds.lpl.ari…] are known for their tails. In the spring [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] of 1997 and 1996 Comet Hale-Bopp [ http://encke.jpl.na…] (above) and Comet Hyakutake [ http://encke.jpl.na…] gave us stunning examples [ http://pages.prodig…] as they passed near the Sun. These extremely active comets [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] were bright, naked-eye spectacles offering researchers an opportunity to telescopically [ http://encke.jpl.na…] explore the composition of primordial chunks of our solar system by studying their long and beautiful tails. But it has only recently been discovered that surprising readings [ ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.g…] from experiments on-board the interplanetary Ulysses probe [ http://ulysses.jpl.…] which lasted for several hours on May 1, 1996, indicate the probe passed through [ http://www.sp.ph.ic…] comet Hyakutake's tail! Ulysses experiments were intended [ http://ulysses.jpl.…] to study the Sun and solar wind and the spacecraft-comet [ http://stardust.jpl…] encounter was totally unanticipated. Relative positions of Ulysses [ http://ulysses-ops.…] and Hyakutake on that date indicate that this comet's ion tail [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] stretched an impressive 360 million miles or about four times the Earth-Sun distance [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…]. This makes Hyakutake's tail the longest ever recorded [ http://heasarc.gsfc…] and suggests that comet tails [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] are much longer than previously believed.
Explanation
Comets [ http://seds.lpl.ari…] are known for their tails. In the spring [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] of 1997 and 1996 Comet Hale-Bopp [ http://encke.jpl.na…] (above) and Comet Hyakutake [ http://encke.jpl.na…] gave us stunning examples [ http://pages.prodig…] as they passed near the Sun. These extremely active comets [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] were bright, naked-eye spectacles offering researchers an opportunity to telescopically [ http://encke.jpl.na…] explore the composition of primordial chunks of our solar system by studying their long and beautiful tails. But it has only recently been discovered that surprising readings [ ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.g…] from experiments on-board the interplanetary Ulysses probe [ http://ulysses.jpl.…] which lasted for several hours on May 1, 1996, indicate the probe passed through [ http://www.sp.ph.ic…] comet Hyakutake's tail! Ulysses experiments were intended [ http://ulysses.jpl.…] to study the Sun and solar wind and the spacecraft-comet [ http://stardust.jpl…] encounter was totally unanticipated. Relative positions of Ulysses [ http://ulysses-ops.…] and Hyakutake on that date indicate that this comet's ion tail [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] stretched an impressive 360 million miles or about four times the Earth-Sun distance [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…]. This makes Hyakutake's tail the longest ever recorded [ http://heasarc.gsfc…] and suggests that comet tails [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] are much longer than previously believed.
