File:Comet Hale.jpg

Summary

The solid nucleus of the comet is made up of rock, dust and ice. The bluish tail seen heading away from the comet is the comet's ion tail, visible because of sunlight reflecting off of singly ionized carbon monoxide particles that fluoresce into visible wavelengths. The white tail pointing away from the comet is the dust tail, visible from sunlight reflected off of dust particles ejected from the comet over millions of miles of space. Taken by Jim Young of JPL's Table Mountain Observatory, approximately 30 miles east of Los Angeles in Wrightwood, CA, on March 12, 1997.

Copyright status:

This image is public domain because it was first released by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Source:

http://www.nasaimages.org/luna/servlet/detail/NVA2~14~14~24799~124515:Comet-Hale-Bopp?qvq=q:comet;lc:nasaNAS~20~20,NVA2~50~50,NVA2~28~28,NVA2~32~32,NVA2~37~37,NVA2~41~41,nasaNAS~4~4,nasaNAS~5~5,NVA2~8~8,nasaNAS~22~22,NVA2~16~16,NVA2~48~48,NVA2~61~61,nasaNAS~13~13,NVA2~20~20,NVA2~52~52,NVA2~75~75,NVA2~25~25,NVA2~57~57,NVA2~34~34,NVA2~43~43,NVA2~39~39,NVA2~1~1,nasaNAS~6~6,NVA2~9~9,NVA2~27~27,NVA2~31~31,NVA2~54~54,NVA2~45~45,nasaNAS~10~10,NVA2~36~36,NVA2~18~18,NVA2~13~13,NVA2~22~22,NVA2~59~59,nasaNAS~7~7,nasaNAS~8~8,NVA2~47~47,NVA2~60~60,NVA2~29~29,NVA2~33~33,NVA2~56~56,NVA2~15~15,NVA2~24~24,nasaNAS~12~12,NVA2~51~51,NVA2~38~38,NVA2~42~42,NVA2~4~4,nasaNAS~9~9,NSVS~3~3,nasaNAS~2~2,NVA2~17~17,NVA2~30~30,NVA2~62~62,NVA2~53~53,NVA2~44~44,NVA2~35~35,NVA2~26~26,NVA2~58~58,NVA2~21~21,NVA2~49~49,NVA2~14~14,nasaNAS~16~16,NVA2~23~23,NVA2~46~46,NVA2~55~55,NVA2~19~19,NVA2~76~76&mi=6&trs=1289