Posted by James Aldred on May 31, 1997 at 20:16:33:
In Reply to: Re: Comet Hale-Bopp : What would Dick be thinking ? posted by Adam Quinan on April 01, 1997 at 17:36:35:
We saw comet Hale-Bopp several times, it was appearing to stay still though! Using binoculars, I could see the nucleus quite clearly (the actual rock or ball of frozen gas at the centre) and, as Dick could have told you, the tail is caused by this gas (or rock) losing particles, and they are streaming off into space.