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Credit & Copyright: Observatoire de Haute, Provence, France
Explanation:
Here Comet West is seen showing two enormous tails that wrap around the
sky. The ion tale of a
comet
usually appears more blue and always points away from the
Sun.
The dust tail trailing the comet's nucleus is the most
prominent. Comet West was a visually spectacular
comet,
reaching its most picturesque in March of 1976. A
comet
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 will look
as spectacular as this in the spring of 1997.
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: comet
Publications with words: comet
See also:
- APOD: 2024 April 17 Á Total Eclipse and Comets
- APOD: 2024 April 8 Á The Changing Ion Tail of Comet Pons Brooks
- Comet Pons-Brooks at Night
- APOD: 2024 March 18 Á Comet Pons Brooks Swirling Coma
- Comet 12P/Pons Brooks in Northern Spring
- Structure in the Tail of Comet 12P/Pons Brooks
- The Snows of Churyumov Gerasimenko