Astronomy Picture of the Day

Comet Hale-Bopp Over Val Parola Pass


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#105697 by @ 03.03.2008 00:00 - nach oben -
Comet Hale-Bopp Over Val Parola Pass


Explanation:

Comet Hale-Bopp,
the Great Comet of 1997,
became much brighter than any surrounding stars.

It was seen even over bright city lights.

Away from city lights, however, it put on quite a
spectacular show.

Here
Comet Hale-Bopp was photographed
above Val Parola Pass in the
Dolomite
mountains
surrounding
Cortina
d'Ampezzo
,
Italy.

Comet Hale-Bopp's
blue ion tail, consisting of
ions from the
comet's nucleus,
is pushed out by the solar wind.

The white
dust tail is composed of larger particles of
dust from the nucleus driven by
the pressure of sunlight, that orbit behind the
comet.

Observations showed that
Comet Hale-Bopp's nucleus spins about once every 12 hours.



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