February 12, 1997
The Moon has changed phase thousands of times since the beginning of the cosmos, but only once did it shine on the night you arrived.
Comet Hale-Bopp Develops a Tail
Birthday · February 12, 1997
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APOD published February 12, 1997. Credit: P. H. Mikuz and B. Dintinjana (Crni Vrh Obs.,U. Ljubljana). A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
Comet Hale-Bopp has quite a tail to tell already. This remarkable comet was first discovered in 1995, even before Comet Hyakutake. Since then, this erupting snowball continues to fall into our inner Solar System and is starting to put on quite a show. Comets have been known throughout history to show tails that spread across the sky. In the above picture, the blue stream is the ion tail which consists of ions pushed away from the comet's head by the solar wind. The ion tail always points directly away from the Sun. Comet Hale-Bopp is now visible in the morning sky, moving a few degrees each day. Comet Hale-Bopp is expected to be at its best and brightest in late March and early April.
Image credit: P. H. Mikuz and B. Dintinjana (Crni Vrh Obs.,U. Ljubljana)