The unusual tails of comet Hale-Bopp

Comet Hale-Bopp photographed with the ESO 1-metre Schmidt Telescope on January 5, 1998 on a pan-sensitive film/filter combination (Kodak 4415 + GG385), recording the comet's light in the 4000-7000 A spectral interval. The exposure lasted 1 hour; the seeing was quite good (1.0 arcsec), but there were some cirrus. A satellite crossed the field during the exposure — its trail is seen as a very thin line.