To account for these characteristics, there must be an extended source of sodium atoms tailward of the comet nucleus. We propose that the sodium tail in March 1997 was produced by the release of sodium atoms from grains in the dust tail. Comparisons of Hale-Bopp's 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.
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. Click to get back to the SPA GRL Homepage.