Cometsare known for their tails.In the spring of 1997 and 1996Comet Hale-Bopp (above) and Come Hyakutakegave u stunningexamples as they passed near the Sun.These extremel active comets were bright, naked-eye spectaclesoffering researchers an opportunity t telescopicallyexplore the composition of primordial chunks ofour solar system by studying their long and beautiful tails.But it has only recently been discovered tha surprisingreadings from experiments on-board the interplanetary Ulysses probewhich lasted for several hours on May 1, 1996, indicate th probe passed throughcomet Hyakutake's tail!Ulysses experiments wer intendedto study the Sun and solar windand the spacecraft-cometencounter was totally unanticipated.Relative positions o Ulyssesand Hyakutake on that dateindicate that this comet's ion tail stretchedan impressive 360 million miles or about four times th Earth-Sun distance.This makes Hyakutake's tail the longest eve recordedand suggests that comet tails are much longer than previously believed.
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