Riportiamo una parte di
una circolare dell' INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION dove viene citato il lavoro
svolto dal GAT sulla cometa Hale-Bopp, e dove viene battezzata "Porcospino",
su consiglio del GAT (vedi "Lo studio dei getti"), a causa dei getti
rettilinei (o aculei?) provenienti dal nucleo della cometa.
COMET C/1995 O1 (HALE-BOPP)
[...] F. Manzini,
C. Guaita and F. Crippa write that CCD images obtained with the 0.33-m
reflector at the SAS Observatory, near Milan, show jets near
p.a. 40, 145 and 270 deg to be very faint on May 28 but almost
as bright as the main tail by July 31, with further brightening and the
development of several secondary jets by Aug. 16; in view of the numerous
linear spikes extending 10-15 arcsec from the nucleus and having little
tendency to bend they remark that the comet resembles a porcupine.