April 16, 1997
Consider this: the iron in your blood was forged in a supernova explosion billions of years ago.
A Star Cluster Through Hale-Bopp's Tail Credit and Copyright:
Birthday · April 16, 1997
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APOD published April 16, 1997. Full image credits are on the original APOD entry below. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
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A Star Cluster Through Hale-Bopp's Tail Credit and Copyright:
Original APOD · April 16, 1997 ↗Comet Hale-Bopp continues to look impressive. The photograph above captured the comet on April 7th passing nearly in front of M34, a star cluster in the constellation of Perseus. Many of the stars in this open cluster can be seen through Comet Hale-Bopp's white dust tail. The bright blue ion tail now shows several streams. Now receding from both the Sun and the Earth, Comet Hale-Bopp should still remain an impressive sight for weeks to come as it slowly fades.