Comet Hyakutake. Optical image showing the head (coma) and part of the tail of Comet Hyakutake,one of the brightest comets to appear in the sky. Comets are bodies,mostly formed by water ice,which orbit the Sun with usually highly elongated orbits. When a comet approaches the Sun the water ice vaporises forming the coma,a cloud of gas and dust which can be up to 15 times the diameter of the Earth,and a tail. Comets have two types of tails: a gas tail (bluish here) which shows wisp and long filaments of excited gases,and a smooth and featureless dust tail (faint yellow) in which dust particles reflect sunlight | |
Licence : | Droits gérés |
Crédit: | Science Photo Library / Garradd, Gordon |
Taille de l’image : | 3543 px × 3096 px |
Model Release : | Non requis |
Property Release : | Non requis |
Restrictions : |
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