Comet Hale-Bopp in the night sky. A comet consists of ices and dust,and orbits round the Sun. Near the Sun,the icy core melts and boils into space. The solar wind and radiation blows the resulting ions and dust into tails that can be millions of kilometres long. The ion tail (blue) glows with its own light and the dust tail (white) reflects sunlight. The ion tail always points away from the Sun. Comet Hale-Bopp (also known as C/1995 O1) was closest to the Sun in March 1997. It is a long-period comet: it will be around 4000 years before it reappears | |
Licence : | Droits gérés |
Crédit: | Science Photo Library / Lodriguss, Jerry |
Taille de l’image : | 2730 px × 4165 px |
Model Release : | Non requis |
Property Release : | Non requis |
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