June 10, 1997
Another birthday means another year in which the universe got to experience itself through your particular combination of wonder and will.
Hale-Bopp Above the Cinqui Torri Mountains
Birthday · June 10, 1997
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APOD published June 10, 1997. Credit: G. Menardi (Col Druscie Obs., ACC). A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
Hale-Bopp may be the most photographed comet in history. Above, our photogenic giant flying snowball appeared last month as a backdrop to the "Cinque Torri" Mountains near Contina d'Ampezzo, Italy. Although the comet is still fairly bright, it is fading as it recedes from the Sun, and is now more easily visible from Earth's southern hemisphere. Having shed a few meters of ice and rock from its surface, Comet Hale-Bopp will coast to the outer Solar System, and return again in another 2400 years.
Image credit: G. Menardi (Col Druscie Obs., ACC)