The images have been computer processed to show structure in the distribution of the comet's gas and dust. The spiral structure apparent in these pictures results from jets of gaseous material being ejected in a stream from the comet nucleus. The rotation of the comet nucleus, approximately once every eleven hours, wraps the ejected material around the nucleus in the spiral structure shown. Notice that the areas of strong CN emission are similar, but not identical, in structure to those strong in dust reflections.
North is to the top and east is to the right.
The sun is shining from south of southeast, or slightly left of bottom in these pictures. All energy emitted by a comet comes from the sun, either by the scattering of radiated sunlight from dust particles or from the reemission of absorbed sunlight by gas molecules, known as fluorescence. Details of the structure in these images give clues to the physical processes of CN and dust in Comet Hale-Bopp. The individual images used to produce these pictures are shown immediately below. These four images taken at the WIYN telescope on Kitt Peak near Tucson, AZ, show structure in the gas and dust composition of Comet Hale-Bopp.