Figure 8-35 Comet Hale-Bopp Discovered on July 23, 1995, this comet was at its breathtaking best in mid-1997. Inset: Jets of gas and debris were observed shooting out from Comet Hale-Bopp several times. This image shows the comet nucleus (lower bright region), an ejected piece of the comet’s surface (upper bright region), and a spiral tail. The ejected piece eventually disintegrated, following the same spiral pattern as the tail.