The Online Planetarium Show

Comet Hyakutake


Comet Hyakutake

Wide view of the nucleus of Comet Hyakutake. When the comet crosses into sunlight, its icy nucleus throws off dust that is especially visible on the side of the comet in the sun. Eventually, this dust is hit by sunlight and turned around, moving towards the tail-side part of the nucleus. In the upper left-hand corner, notice that there are three small fragments that broke from the nucleus and formed their own tails. Courtesy Space Telescope Science Institute, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Hal Weaver/Applied Research Corp., HST Comet Hyakutake Observing Team, NASA.


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