We recorded the earliest image of comet Hale-Bopp's sodium tail in March, 1997. Hale-Bopp's three tails. Average of two images at 5893 A, March 17, showing both dust and sodium atoms. Average of three images at 6199 A, March 20, showing dust and the ion water tail. Comparisons of Hale-Bopp's tails.
Contours are the brightness of the sodium tail in Rayleighs.
The tail brightnesses are integrated perpendicular to the radial vector from the nucleus, and plotted versus distance from the nucleus. Unlike the dust and ion tails, the sodium tail increases in brightness with distance from the nucleus. Another representation of the three tails of comet Hale-Bopp. The brightest portions of each of these emissions are shown using red, blue and yellow colors, respectively. The sodium tail has been artificially enhanced to make it more visible.