After tracking its path for the last two years, scientists are welcoming the clearest appearance of comet Hale-Bopp starting next week. Although the comet has been visible to the naked eye for the past three months in the morning sky, Hale-Bopp will be most prominent in the night sky from the end of March until the first week in April. During this time, the moon is less bright, allowing the comet to stand out. Hale-Bopp, like other comets, is made up of a huge chunk of ice orbiting the sun, Astronomy Prof. Charles Tolbert said. During orbit, Tolbert said, the ice melts and forms a cloud of gas around the ice.
Sunlight reflecting off the gas causes the glowing appearance in the sky.
Larger than Hyakutake, a comet that appeared last year, Hale-Bopp's ice core is 15 miles across, making it a particularly bright comet, he said. Tolbert said the comet is made of a head, which is a concentrated glow of gas, and a tail, the trail of gas behind the comet. The head of the comet is the actual cloud of gas, while the tail is formed by the sun's rays pushing the gas away from the center. A bright comet like Hale-Bopp comes along once every 10 years or so, he said. Not only an impressive sight, Hale-Bopp and other comets provide important clues to the origins of the solar system, he added.