May 2, 1996
A birthday is what happens when cosmic time briefly puts down the scale of eons and pays attention to a single human year.
The Tails of Comet Hyakutake
Birthday · May 2, 1996
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APOD published May 2, 1996. Credit: Vic Winter, Courtesy ICSTARS. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
What makes comet tails so colorful? This photograph of Comet Hyakutake was taken the night of April 18th and highlights different components of the tail. The gold and red tail features are dust, made predominately of little bits of rock and carbon. The dust tail shines by reflecting sunlight. Extending past the dust tail is the comet's ion tail, shown here glowing in blue. The ion tail is composed mostly of ions of water, carbon monoxide, and cyanogen. The ion tail glows by emitting light when elections re-combine with electrically charged ions to make uncharged molecules. The photograph was taken just north of Kansas City, Missouri, USA. Latest Comet Hyakutake images: APOD Hyakutake Archive, JPL, Fayetteville Observer-Times, NASA's Night of the Comet, ICSTARS, Jerry Lodriguss, ScienceWeb, Crni Vrh Obs.,
Image credit: Vic Winter, Courtesy ICSTARS