Comet Hyakutake
by Tony & Daphne Hallas/science Photo Library
Title
Comet Hyakutake
Artist
Tony & Daphne Hallas/science Photo Library
Medium
Photograph - Photograph
Description
Comet Hyakutake, optical image. This comet was one of the brightest of the 20th Century. It passed close to the Earth in spring 1996. A comet is a mass of ice and dust which has an elliptical orbit around the Sun. As it nears the Sun, gases evaporate from its surface, forming a head (coma) and a tail, blown back by the solar wind, that may stretch for millions of kilometres. The tail always points away from the Sun.
Uploaded
September 13th, 2018
Embed
Share