McNaught’s tail tagged posts

The Sun’s magnetic field, which is embedded in the solar wind, permeates the entire solar system. The current sheet — where the magnetic field changes polarity —spirals out from near the solar equator like a wavy skirt around a ballet dancer’s waist.
Credits: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center

Combined observations of Comet McNaught – one of the brightest comets visible from Earth in the past 50 years – have revealed new insights on the nature of comets and their relationship with the Sun. Engineers and scientists gathered around a screen in an operations room at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C., eager to lay their eyes on the first data from NASA’s STEREO spacecraft...