Fact Sheet
Comet Hale-Bopp
After observing the comet at McDonald Observatory, astronomers from Boston University’s Center for Space Physics created a composite image that highlights Hale-Bopp’s recently discovered sodium tail. European astronomers working at the Isaac Newton Group Telescope in La Palma, Spain, discovered the sodium tail in April 1997 while scanning for sodium in the comet’s core. While sodium has been detected in other comets, including Halley’s Comet in 1986, Hale-Bopp’s sodium tail (shown above in yellow) surprised astronomers. Ion and dust tails (red and blue) are commonly observed in comets.
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