November 24, 2013
A birthday is what happens when cosmic time briefly puts down the scale of eons and pays attention to a single human year.
Comet Hale-Bopp Over Indian Cove
Birthday · November 24, 2013
A little universe, just for you
Your date.
Ready to give.
Free PNG · 1080 × 1350 · No account needed
Image rights and credit requirements apply when sharing or reusing imagery.
Date & occasion only
Change the year
APOD published November 24, 2013. Credit: Wally Pacholka (Astropics, TWAN). A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
Comet Hale-Bopp, the Great Comet of 1997, was quite a sight. In the above photograph taken on 1997 April 6, Comet Hale-Bopp was imaged from the Indian Cove Campground in the Joshua Tree National Park in California, USA. A flashlight was used to momentarily illuminate foreground rocks in this six minute exposure. An impressive blue ion tail was visible above a sunlight-reflecting white dust tail. Comet Hale-Bopp remained visible to the unaided eye for over a year before returning to the outer Solar System and fading. As Comet ISON approaches the Sun this week, sky enthusiasts around the Earth are waiting to see if its tails will become even more spectacular than those displayed by Comet Hale-Bopp. Happy Holidays: Free APOD 2014 Calendar in PDF format
Image credit: Wally Pacholka (Astropics, TWAN)