Here Comet West is seen showing two enormous tails that wrap around the sky. The ion tale of a comet [
http://antwrp.gsfc.…] usually appears more blue and always points away from the Sun [
http://antwrp.gsfc.…]. The dust tail trailing the comet's nucleus is the most prominent. Comet West was a visually spectacular comet [
http://seds.lpl.ari…], reaching its most picturesque in March of 1976. A comet [
http://www.c3.lanl.…] this bright occurs only about once a decade. Comets are really just large dirty snowballs that shed material when they reach the inner solar-system. Many astronomers are hopeful that Comet Hale-Bopp [
http://antwrp.gsfc.…] will look as spectacular as this in the spring of 1997.
Tomorrow's picture: Gamma Ray Bursts from the Unknown
Explanation
Here Comet West is seen showing two enormous tails that wrap around the sky. The ion tale of a comet [
http://antwrp.gsfc.…] usually appears more blue and always points away from the Sun [
http://antwrp.gsfc.…]. The dust tail trailing the comet's nucleus is the most prominent. Comet West was a visually spectacular comet [
http://seds.lpl.ari…], reaching its most picturesque in March of 1976. A comet [
http://www.c3.lanl.…] this bright occurs only about once a decade. Comets are really just large dirty snowballs that shed material when they reach the inner solar-system. Many astronomers are hopeful that Comet Hale-Bopp [
http://antwrp.gsfc.…] will look as spectacular as this in the spring of 1997.
Tomorrow's picture: Gamma Ray Bursts from the Unknown
Explanation
