Gallery 1 - Astronomical   >   Solar System   >   Comets   >   Comet Hyakutake

This spectacular comet of 1996 was discovered by a Japanese amateur astronomer in 1996, Yuji Hyakutake. It's very close approach to Earth made it one of the most detailed and beautiful comets in history. The comet was a long period comet but it was also considered 'fresh' and as the solar wind heated up the core, a lot of dust and gases became active and as the solar wind pushed the dust and gases away from the core. we see it as the comet's tail. Comet Hyakutake looked like many different comets due to its ever changing tail structure.