Comet Hyakutake develops two tails

The present photo is the first to show the turn-on of the ion tail (this is the technical term for this event). It is a reproduction of a 15-min CCD exposure obtained by ESO-astronomer Ferdinando Patat on Feb. 16.35 UT with the Danish 1.54-m telescope and the DFOSC multimode instrument (2k x 2k pix CCD) at the ESO La Silla Observatory. An R-filtre was used. The frame was image-processed at the ESO office in Santiago de Chile by another ESO-astronomer, Stefano Benetti, and then transferred to ESO Garching. The field measures 10.4 x 10.4 arcmin; the scale is 0.39 arcsec/pix; North is up and East is to the left.

Credit:

ESO

About the Image

Id:eso9614a
Type:Observation
Release date:21 February 1996
Related releases:eso9614
Size:529 x 528 px

About the Object

Name:Comet Hyakutake
Type:Solar System : Interplanetary Body : Comet : Tail
Category:Solar System

Image Formats

Large JPEG
163.9 KB
Screensize JPEG
396.0 KB

Wallpapers

1024x768
313.9 KB
1280x1024
447.3 KB
1600x1200
557.6 KB
1920x1200
570.0 KB
2048x1536
760.1 KB

Colours & filters

BandTelescope
Optical
R
Danish 1.54-metre telescope
DFOSC

Exposure time: 900s