By early March, 1997, Comet Hale-Bopp was rapidly approaching the Sun, and it was easy to see with the naked eye.  This image was taken during the pre-dawn hours on a Sunday morning from my backyard in North Branford, looking east above the treetops.  The comet’s blue tail is composed of ionized gases that are being blow away by the solar wind, and this tail always points directly away from the Sun, no matter which way the comet is moving.  The white dust tail, shorter and fan-shaped, is  composed of small particles that have broken off the comet, and these tend to follow behind the comet along its orbit around the Sun.

Image details:  A 180-second exposure on Kodak Gold 1000 film, taken with a Canon camera and a telephoto lens with a focal length of 80 mm.