And one of the brightest in the last few decades. It was visible to the naked eye for a record period of 18 months, twice the previous record set by the Great Comet of 1811.

Opening

The comet was discovered independently by two American observers - Alan Hale and Thomas Bopp. Hale had spent many hundreds of fruitless hours looking for comets, and near his home in New Mexico he was observing already known comets when, around midnight, he suddenly came across a nebulous object of magnitude 10.5 m near the globular star cluster M70 in the constellation Sagittarius. Hale first established that there were no other deep sky objects near this cluster. He further discovered that the object was visibly moving against the background of stars (hence, it was in the solar system), and wrote an email to the Central Bureau of Astronomical Telegrams, which tracks astronomical discoveries.

Bopp did not have his own telescope. He was in nature with his friends near Stanfield, Arizona, and was observing star clusters and galaxies, when a speck of light flashed in front of Thomas's eyes in the eyepiece of a telescope owned by his friend. After consulting the ephemeris of known objects in the solar system, Bopp realized that this speck was a new object, and sent a telegram to the same place as Hale.

The next morning, the discovery of a new comet was confirmed, which was given the name Comet Hale-Bopp and the designation C/1995 O1. The discovery was announced in Circular No. 6187 of the International Astronomical Union. At the time of discovery, the comet was at a distance of 7.1 AU. e. from the Sun.

The formation of the "Big Comet"

Approaching the Sun, the Hale-Bopp comet became brighter: in February it reached 2nd magnitude, and it was already possible to distinguish its tails - a bluish ion, directed in the opposite direction from the Sun, and a yellowish dust, curved along the comet's orbit. A solar eclipse in Eastern Siberia and Mongolia on March 9 made it possible to see the comet during the day. On March 23, 1997, comet Hale-Bopp approached the Earth at a minimum distance of 1.315 AU. e. (196.7 million km).

As it passed perihelion on April 1, 1997, the comet was a stunning sight. With an average value of -0.7, it shone brighter than any star (except for Sirius), and its two tails stretched across the sky by 15-20 degrees (and their parts invisible to a simple observer - by 30-40 °). The comet could be observed just after dusk; and although many "large" comets were close to the Sun when passing perihelion, Hale-Bopp could be observed in the northern hemisphere all night.

Comet Hale-Bopp could be even more impressive. If it came to the same distance to the Earth as in 1996 - comet Hyakutake (0.1 AU), it would exceed Venus in brightness, reaching -5th magnitude.

Comet Removal

After passing perihelion, the comet moved to the southern celestial hemisphere, and its brightness began to weaken. The comet looked much less impressive to southern observers, but they were able to see its brightness gradually decrease throughout the second half of 1997. The last known sighting of the comet with the naked eye was in December 1997, so it was visible for about 18 and a half months. This term broke the previous record of 9 months set by the Great Comet of 1811.

Comet Hale-Bopp is now receding, and its brightness continues to decrease. In August 2004, it left the orbit of Uranus, and as of mid-2008, it was at a distance of about 26.8 AU. e. from the Sun. However, it is still tracked by astronomers. The reason for this is the unusually long activity of the comet. Recent observations (October) indicate that the comet still has a coma with a brightness of about 20 m. It is assumed that the reason for the unusually long activity lies in the slow cooling of the comet's giant nucleus.

The comet is expected to be visible with large telescopes until about 2020, when its brightness drops to 30m. The comet will return to Earth around the year 4390. Comet Hale-Bopp is expected to have a 15% chance in one of its next returns to become circumsolar, and to serve as the progenitor of a new family, such as the Kreutz family of comets.

Orbit changes

Scientific research

When approaching the Sun, the comet was intensively studied by astronomers. In doing so, some important and interesting discoveries were made.

One of the most significant results was the discovery of a tail of the third type in a comet. In addition to the usual gas (ion) and dust tails, there was also a faint sodium tail, visible only with powerful instruments and a complex filter system. Sodium fluxes have been previously observed in other comets, but they did not form a tail in any of them. Comet Hale - Bopp had it composed of neutral atoms and stretched almost 50 million kilometers in length .

Excess deuterium

The comet was found to have a high content of deuterium in the form of heavy water: almost twice as much as in Earth's oceans. This means that although comet collisions with the Earth could be an important source of water on the planet, they could not be the only source (if, of course, such a concentration is characteristic of all comets).

The presence of deuterium in the composition of other hydrogen compounds was also found. The ratio of these elements differed in different structures, so astronomers suggested that the comet's ice was formed not in the protoplanetary disk, but in the interstellar cloud. Theoretical models of ice formation in nebulae show that Comet Hale-Bopp formed at a temperature of 25-45 .

organic compounds

Spectroscopic observations of comet Hale-Bopp have revealed the presence of a group of organic compounds, some of which have never been found in comets. These complex molecules, such as acetic and formic acids and acetonitrile, could be in the core or come from chemical reactions.

Argon detection

Comet Hale-Bopp was also the first comet to contain the noble gas argon. Noble gases are chemically inert and extremely volatile, and different gases have different boiling points. The latter property helps in tracking the change in temperature of comet ices. Thus, krypton evaporates at a temperature of 116-120 K, and it was found that its abundance in a comet is 25 times lower than that of the sun; on the contrary, the sublimation temperature of argon is 35–40 K, and its content is higher than that of the sun.

So it was established that the temperature of the internal ices of the Hale-Bopp comet never exceeded 40 K, and at the same time at some point their temperature was above 20 K. Unless the formation of the solar system occurred at temperatures lower than suggested in present, and at a higher initial argon content, the presence of argon in the comet means that Comet Hale-Bopp formed beyond the orbit of Neptune somewhere in the Kuiper belt, and then moved to the Oort cloud.

Rotation

Ejection of matter from the nucleus of a comet.

The comet's activity and gas emissions were not equally distributed over the entire surface of the nucleus, but manifested themselves in the form of strong emissions from certain points. By observing them, it became possible to calculate the period of rotation of the comet's nucleus. It was found that the nucleus of the comet Hale-Bopp really rotates, however, at different times, different values ​​​​of the period were obtained: from 11 hours 20 minutes. up to 12 h 5 min. Superposition of rotations with several periods suggests that the comet's nucleus had more than one axis of rotation.

Another period (called the "super period"), calculated from dust emissions from the surface, turned out to be 22 days. And in March 1997, it suddenly turned out that in the interval from February to March, the comet changed the direction of rotation to the opposite. The exact reasons for this behavior remain a mystery, although it appears to have been due to strong non-periodic outbursts of gas.

Satellite controversy

In 1999, a work appeared, the author of which, in order to fully explain the observed nature of dust emission, suggested that the comet had a double nucleus. The work was based on theoretical studies and did not refer to any direct observations of the secondary nucleus. It was stated, however, that it should have a diameter of 30 km, with a main nucleus of 70 km, a distance between them of 180 km, and a period of mutual revolution of 3 days.

The provisions of this work were disputed by practicing astronomers, who claimed that even high-resolution pictures of the comet taken by the Hubble telescope did not contain traces of a double nucleus. In addition, in previously observed cases of comets with a double nucleus, they did not remain stable for long: the orbit of the secondary nucleus was easily disturbed by the gravity of the Sun and planets, tearing the comet apart.

A few months later, in March 1997, a religious cult that called itself "Gate of Paradise" ("Heaven's Gate"), chose the appearance of a comet as a signal for mass cult suicide. They declared that they were leaving their earthly bodies to make a journey to a ship following a comet. 39 cultists commit suicide at ranch Santa Fe (English)Russian.

Comet Legacy

Notes

1. Nakano, S. NK 1553 - C/1995 O1 (Hale-Bopp)(English) . OAA computing section circular (February 12, 2008). Retrieved November 10, 2008. Archived from the original on August 20, 2011.
2. Calculated from future 1/a (indefinite) . OAA computing section circular NK 1553. Retrieved December 27, 2015.
3. Kidger, M. R.; Hurst, G; James, N. The Visual Light Curve Of C/1995 O1 (Hale-Bopp) From Discovery To Late 1997 // Earth, Moon, and Planets . - 2004. - T. 78, issue. 1-3. - pp. 169-177.- DOI: 10.1023/A:1006228113533
4. IAU Circular 6187: 1995 O1(English) (unavailable link - story) . International Astronomical Union (July 23, 1995). Retrieved November 10, 2008.
5. Lemonick, Michael D. Comet of the decade. Part II, Time magazine (March 17, 1997). Retrieved November 8, 2008.
6. Thomas Bopp. Amateur Contributions in the study of Comet Hale-Bopp // Earth, Moon, and Planets. - 1997. - T. 79, issue. 1-3. - pp. 307-308.
7. Cronk, Gary W. Comet C/1995 O1 (Hale-Bopp)(English) . cometography.com. Retrieved November 10, 2008. Archived from the original on August 20, 2011.
8. Browne, Malcolm R. Comet Holds Clues to Birth of Time, The New York Times (March 9, 1997). Retrieved November 8, 2008.
9. Seiichi Yoshida. Light curve of comet C/1995 O1 (Hale-Bopp)(English) (December 20, 2007). Retrieved November 10, 2008. Archived from the original on August 20, 2011.
10. McGee, H.W.; Poitevin, P. Total solar eclipse March 9, 1997 = The total solar eclipse of 1997 March 9 // Journal of the British Astronomical Association. - 1997. - T. 107, issue. 3 . - S. 112-113.
11. HORIZONS ephemeris generator(English) . JPL. Retrieved November 10, 2008. Archived from the original on August 20, 2011.
12. The Trail of Hale-Bopp(English) . Scientific American (March 31, 1997). Retrieved November 8, 2008. Archived from the original on August 20, 2011.
13. Szabo, Gy. M.; Kiss, L. L.; Sarneczky, K. Comet activity at a distance of 25.7 AU. e.: Comet Hale-Bopp 11 years after perihelion = Cometary Activity at 25.7 AU: Hale-Bopp 11 Years after Perihelion // The Astrophysical Journal. - 2008. - T. 677, no. 2. - C. L121-L124.- DOI: 10.1086/588095. - arXiv:0803.1505 .
14. Gnedin Yu. N. Astronomical observations of the comet of the century. - Decree. ed.
15. West, Richard M. Comet Hale-Bopp(English) (unavailable link). European Southern Observatory (February 7, 1997). Retrieved November 8, 2008. Archived from the original on August 20, 2011.
16. Bailey, M. E.; Emel'yanenko, V.V.; Hahn, G.; et al. Orbital evolution of Comet 1995 O1 Hale-Bopp // Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. - 1996. - T. 281, issue. 3 . - S. 916-924.
17. Yeomans, Don. Comet Hale-Bopp Orbit and Ephemeris Information(English) . NASA/JPL (April 10, 1997). Retrieved November 8, 2008. Archived from the original on August 20, 2011.
18. Cremonese, G.; Boehnhardt, H.; Crovisier J.; et al. Neutral Sodium from Comet Hale-Bopp: A Third Type of Tail // The Astrophysical Journal Letters. - 1997. - T. 490. - C. L199-L202.- DOI: 10.1086/311040
19. Meier, Roland; Owen, Tobias C. Cometary Deuterium // Space Science Reviews. - 1999. - T. 90, no. 1-2. - pp. 33-43.- DOI : 10.1023/A:1005269208310
20. Rodgers, S. D.; Charnley, S.B. Organic synthesis in the coma of Comet Hale–Bopp? // Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. - 2002. - T. 320, no. 4 . - C. L61-L64. -

Opening. Several months passed, and during this time not a single cometary discovery was made - a very long time for that period in the development of cometary astronomy. But this calm foreshadowed a storm, for after it a comet was discovered, which became very famous.

American Alan Hale spent more than one hundred hours before he managed to detect a comet. Yes, and what a comet - a comet that later became famous. At the time of discovery, July 23, 1995, this comet was located near the globular star cluster M70 in the constellation Sagittarius. Hale was the first to establish that there was no mapped nebula in this region of the sky. As soon as he was convinced that the discovered object was moving against the background of a starry background, he immediately hurried to send a message to the Bureau of Astronomical Telegrams.

Also, the American Thomas Bopp discovered the comet around the same time, but not with his telescope. He and his friends made observations of nebulae and star clusters in the area of ​​Stanfield (Arizona), and for the first time saw a comet in the eyepiece of his friend's telescope. He saw an unknown speck of mist near the well-known cluster M70, and, comparing this region of the sky with star maps, was unable to identify it. From this, Bopp suggested that this object was probably an unknown comet! Having drawn this conclusion, he sent a telegram announcing the discovery to the bureau of astronomical telegrams.

The comet's discovery was confirmed by the next morning, and the comet was named Hale-Bopp - C/1995 O1 (Hale-Bopp). The discovery was officially announced in IAUC 6187. At the discovery, the comet had a magnitude of about 10.5m and at the same time was removed from the Sun at a distance of hell 7.1 AU!

A little later, the comet was discovered in images taken before its official discovery. T.Dickenson (Chiricahua Mountains, Arizona, USA) discovered the comet in an image taken on May 29th. Robert McNaught (Anglo-Australian Observatory, Australia) found much earlier pictures of this comet in his archive. They refer to April 27, 1993. The brightness of the comet's nucleus at that time was about 18m, and the diameter of the coma was 0.4".

The comet is getting big. After the discovery of Hale-Boppa, it gradually increased in brightness, and astronomers cautiously gave optimistic predictions that the comet could become very bright.

Immediately after the discovery, many famous astronomers around the world observe it and estimate the brightness in the range of 10.5 - 12m.

In early August, the comet had a brightness of about 10.5m and a weakly compacted coma with a diameter of 2-3 ". There were signs of a rudimentary tail - a slight elongation of the coma in a northerly direction. The comet very slowly increased its brightness and at the end of November disappeared at dusk, reaching a brightness of about 10m.

After passing only two degrees from the Sun in early January, the comet was rediscovered in early February at a brightness of about 9m. Terry Lovejoy (Australia) described the comet as a well-concentrated object, noticeably brighter than last year. In March and April, Hale-Boppa was in the background, not many observations were made, because C / 1996 B2 (Hyakutake) - the great comet of 1996 shone in the sky. However, in mid-March the comet already had a magnitude of 8.5m, and by the end of April it had reached 8m.

The first report of Hale-Boppa sightings with the naked eye came on May 20, 1996, when Australian Terry Lovejoy was able to detect a hint of a comet under very good observing conditions. With 10x50 binoculars, he estimated its brightness at 6.7m and noted that the coma had a diameter of 15 minutes of arc, which is equal to half the visible disk of the full moon. By the end of May, several more observers reported that they were able to detect the comet with the naked eye. By the beginning of summer, it had a brightness of 6.5m, and the angular diameter of the coma was 10-15".

During June, the comet continued to slowly increase its brightness, reaching 5.5m by the beginning of the average summer month. But after that, the tailed wanderer began to behave somewhat unexpectedly - until the end of July, Hale-Bopp did not increase her brilliance, remaining at the same level and making astronomy lovers and professionals worry. The situation did not change in August and early September, even, according to some estimates, during this period the comet weakened by 0.3m. However, in September its brightness again began to gradually increase, reaching a value of 5.3m by the beginning of October. The comet was now less than 3 AU away. from the sun.

During this three-month period of very strange behavior of the comet, observatories around the world tirelessly collected various information about it. More recent analyzes have suggested that this unusual behavior may be due to the fact that as we approach the sun, the degree of heating of the cometary nucleus increases and various substances evaporate from its surface. As confirmation of this, the following data can be cited. The first detection in the cometary spectrum of silicate emissions occurred on July 8, methyl cyanide (CH 3 CN) on August 14-17, cyanide ions were also detected in August.

During the autumn and winter, the comet continued to gradually increase its brightness. By the end of October, estimates gave a value at the level of 5m, the comet became brighter than 4m in mid-December, by which time it had already approached the Sun by less than 2 AU. In our sky, at about the same time as last year, the comet went through the period of the smallest elongation, however, it was many times higher than a year ago. The minimum elongation in this example is 21 degrees - the comet passed on December 21st.

In January of the following year, the comet was already so bright that it could be detected with the naked eye even in heavily illuminated large cities.

Already by this time, the comet had acquired a breathtaking appearance. The Internet at that time was not yet widespread, but those sites that talked about the appearance of a wonderful comet were very popular. The Internet has played a significant role in raising public interest in the great comet.

As it approached the Sun, the comet became brighter and brighter, reaching second magnitude in February and having a pair of highly visible tails. The blue gaseous tail was narrower and pointed directly away from the Sun. A wide, yellowish dust tail curved in a pattern similar to the comet's orbit.

Due to the total solar eclipse, the band of which passed through Mongolia and Siberia on March 9, the comet was visible in the daytime sky.

Hale-Bopp passed the point of its perihelion on April 1, and the closest approach of the comet to our planet occurred a little earlier - on March 22. It was during these days that she, having reached her maximum brilliance, which stopped at a value of -0.8m, had the most stunning appearance. In brightness, the comet exceeded all the stars in the sky, with the exception of Sirius, and the double tail stretched 30-40 degrees. The comet was already visible in a rather bright twilight sky, and at the same time, very atypical for bright comets, it was observed throughout the night (the minimum distance of a comet from the Sun was as much as 0.9 AU, and comets that come close to ours usually become very bright). central light).

This comet could be much more impressive if it came closer to Earth. For example, if Hale-Boppa approached us at the same distance as C / 1996 B2 (Hyakutake) - a large comet of 1996 (0.1 AU) - then the comet's tail would stretch across the sky, and the shine would exceed the brilliance of the full moon. However, even though the minimum distance of the comet from the Earth was 1.315 AU. (which is quite significant by cometary standards), Hale-Boppa was still very bright, her appearance and her tails were magnificent, although only partially visible to the naked eye.

How she left. After passing perihelion, the comet left the northern hemisphere of the sky and began to be observed by the inhabitants of the southern hemisphere. True, in the southern sky the comet was less bright and impressive than ours, and gradually weakened. The last naked-eye sightings of the comet were reported in December 1997, so C/1995 O1 was visible to the naked eye for 569 days, or approximately 18 months and a half months. The previous record for this indicator belonged to the Big Comet of 1811, described in Leo Tolstoy's novel "War and Peace", which was observed with the naked eye for 9 months.

In January 2005, the Hale-Boppa crossed the orbit of Uranus, weakening to 16-17m. Moreover, even at this time, 8 years after the passage of perihelion, the comet had clear signs of a tail.

Astronomers believe that with large telescopes, the comet will be observed until 2020, by which time its brightness will approach the 30th magnitude, but it will be very difficult to distinguish the comet from distant galaxies of similar brightness.

Comet Orbit Research. The comet probably passed its previous perihelion about 4,200 years ago. Its orbit is almost perpendicular to the ecliptic, so it rarely comes close to the planets. However, in March 1996, the comet passed at a distance of only 0.77 AU. from Jupiter (which is close enough, given the mass of the giant planet). As a result of this approach, the period of the comet's revolution around the Sun was reduced to 2380 years, therefore Hale-Bopp should return to the inner regions of the solar system around 4377 years. The maximum distance of the comet from the Sun, which was 525 AU, has now decreased to 360 AU.

Research results. Comet C/1995 O1 (Hale-Bopp) has been very actively observed by amateur astronomers and professionals near its perihelion and some very interesting conclusions for cometary science have been obtained.

One of the most interesting discoveries was that this comet had a third type of tail, previously unknown to cometary science, in addition to the well-known gas and dust. In addition to them, Hale-Boppa was found to have a sodium tail, visible only with powerful tools equipped with special filters.

Previously, sodium emission lines have also been observed in the spectra of some other comets, but sodium tails have never been observed. The Hale-Boppa sodium tail consisted of neutral atoms and extended about 50 million kilometers in length.

The source of the sodium seemed to be in the inner regions of the coma, though not necessarily in the nucleus. Theoretically, there can be several possible routes for the formation of sodium atoms. It is not clear exactly what mechanism was at work in the formation of the sodium tail of the great 1997 comet.

The Hale-Boppa sodium tail was located between the gas and dust tails. From this we can conclude that the sodium atoms were repelled from the head of the comet by radiation pressure.

Comet C/1995 O1 turned out to be rich in one of the atypical isotopes of hydrogen - deuterium, which was contained in cometary structures in the form of heavy water known on earth. Moreover, the composition of the comet turned out to contain approximately twice as much deuterium as in the oceans of the Earth. From this we can conclude that cometary impacts, which are considered to be a significant source of water on Earth, cannot be its only source if such an amount of deuterium is typical for other comets.

Comet Hale-Bopp (C/1995 O1) belongs to the class of long-period comets. It is one of the most popular sightings of the 20th century. Also, the comet is one of the brightest over the past few decades. The discoverers are two independent amateur astronomers at once, namely Alan Hale and Bopp Tom. The discovery occurred on July 23, 1995, at that moment Hale was at home and looked at the evening sky through his telescope, then he noticed a strange blurred dot among the stars. Bopp was spending time with friends in the Arizona desert, one of them brought a homemade telescope to the meeting, suddenly a bright spot flashed in the eyepiece. After checking with the ephemerides of all known space objects at that time, Bopp concluded that he had found something new. Then he simply sent a telegram to the same place as Hale.

Interestingly, the comet was found at a great distance from the Earth, at 7.2 AU. This made it possible to put forward the assumption that when approaching the Earth, it will be clearly visible in the sky. Also, C / 1995 O1 could be observed with the naked eye for a record long time, namely, more than 18 months, anyone could see this space object. At the same time, the comet caused some confusion among people, as rumors began to spread actively that there was a UFO in its tail. They also became the main cause of mass suicides, which were committed by the followers of the "Gate of Paradise" movement.

As the comet approached the Sun, astronomers began to study very actively the materials of which it consisted. Several important discoveries have been made. The most important of these was the observation of a third type of tail. Usually such objects have only two tails - ion and dust, in this case there was a third - sodium, which astronomers could only notice using a complex system of filters and special optics. Sodium streams have been found on other comets, but they never produced a tail. In this case, the sodium tail was made up of neutral atoms and extended over 50 million km.

The main source of sodium was located inside the comet, but not in the nucleus. There are theories according to which such a source can be formed, for example, it can be collisions of dust particles, or sodium is “squeezed out” from particles under the influence of ultraviolet rays. However, it is not yet known exactly how this tail was created. In addition, scientists have found that the comet contains the following substances:

Also in 1999, there were disputes between researchers that a comet could have two nuclei at once. According to this theory, the secondary core has a diameter of about 30 km, while the main one is 70 km, while there was more than 180 km of empty space between the nuclei, and mutual circulation takes three days. Considering that the results of this assumption were based purely on theoretical knowledge, the theory of the second nucleus was subject to a flurry of criticism from practical astronomers, since their equipment could not detect it. Previously observed comets that had two nuclei were extremely unstable and quickly decayed under the influence of the gravity of neighboring stars or planets.

Already in May 1996, the comet could be seen with the naked eye, although the increase in brightness became slower closer to the second half of the year. Scientists still suggested that it would become one of the brightest. On March 23, the comet passed at a minimum distance from, only 196.7 million km. Perihelion arrived on April 1, becoming a real spectacle for all observers. The comet shone brighter than all the stars, except for Sirius, and it was already possible to consider it in the late afternoon.

The nearest perihelion will not come at all soon, since the comet needs about 2,400 years to pass its orbit.

Conclusion

Comet Hale-Bopp is a unique phenomenon that humanity will not soon forget. Thanks to the active work of the media and some sites on the Internet, a huge number of people learned about the comet. In terms of popularity, it was able to surpass Halley's comet and broke several records at once: in terms of detection range, nucleus size and brightness. It was observed about 2 times longer than the previous object of this type. In total, the discovery of this comet made several important discoveries possible, which made it possible to better understand the mechanisms by which the Cosmos functions.

Tailed guest over Valparola pass

Hale Bopp is one of those comets that appear over the Earth every 2500 years, and was discovered at the moment when it was already very close to the Earth.

History of the discovery of Hale Bopp

It happened on July 23, 1995, when American astronomers named Alan Hale and Thomas Bopp at the same time noticed a celestial object very close moving relative to the stars.

The astronomers decided to report this to the American Central Bureau of Astronomy. It is it that decides whether a new celestial body has been discovered. The message was immediately sent, and already on July 24 the whole planet learned about the discovery of a new comet. It bears its name in honor of the discoverers Alan Hale and Thomas Bopp.

The comet they discovered appeared above the Earth in the spring of 1996, or rather in May, and it was possible to see it without special instruments until the winter of 1997, only in December it left the sky of planet Earth. Hayla Bopp was and to this day remains the brightest of all that have been observed by scientists. With the help of complex calculations, they found out that it would be possible to see it next time only in 4390.

Alien machine? Or incredible abilities?

Hale - Bopp C/1995 O1

Comet Hale Bopp was studied by different scientists for a year and a half, as a result of which many discoveries were made, some of which caused a number of heated debates and versions. Among other things, a tail of the third type, unique in its composition, was found in this comet. Usually the tail consists of a gas and dust tail, but this time there was also a sodium tail, which scientists detected using special sophisticated technical instruments. How neutral atoms were able to form a tail remained a mystery.

Also, this comet was found to have unique properties of its nucleus; during rotation, it changed not only the axis of rotation and period, but even the direction of rotation. As a result, scientists made an assumption that it has two nuclei, but they could not prove this in other ways, nor could they refute it. There was another theory, some researchers suggested that an alien apparatus could be inside the comet, but no one could prove it.

Signal for self-improvement

Undoubtedly, the comet will go down in history as the most unique celestial body that people could observe in the 20th century, as well as the cause of mass madness on a mystical and apocalyptic wave. There were all possible legends, myths and strange stories associated with the comet. But the stories didn't stop there.

A sect called "The Gates of Heaven" led by Marshall Aprilwhite in the amount of 39 people said goodbye to life, believing in his teachings. The mentor called for a self-improvement program, after which the followers of his sect would leave their bodies and join the aliens. And the widely publicized legend that it was an alien ship hidden behind a comet became a signal for members of the sect. As a result, on March 22, 1997, the most massive suicide in US history occurred.