images

Comet Halley on April 9-10, 1986

by

Anglo-Australian Observatory/David Malin Images/Novapix

Reference

a-com03-00016

Date

2006-09-20

This picture was made after the comet had rounded the sun and was heading back into the cold of interstellar space. The comet's tails also point away from the sun, no matter what the direction of the comet. The multicoloured 'rain' is the trails of countless stars, photographed, like the comet, in red, green and blue light as the Anglo-Australian Telescope followed the comet's motion in front of the Milky Way.