Starship Asterisk*

Thanks to those above who answered my Q (I think - the discussion is a bit esoteric!) Would it be reasonable to take from that, that the red colour is artificial and that sodium does glow yellow, to th eye at least? This appears too red to be explained as a camera artifact of yellow sodium light. I...

Phil Plait @BadAstronomer Jul 21, 2020, 9:00 AM EDT (Updated) <<The [comet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE)] straight tails are the ion tails. These are from ices that turned to gas from sunlight, then are ionized (have one or more electrons stripped from them) by ultraviolet light from the Sun. These gases glo...

Hi all, some elements of answer: And the 'mouse-over' describes the red tail as being due to "Neutral" sodium atoms. So, not charged, and not capable of photo emission, which I thought occured as electrons moved back into their orbitals, after beingn removed ? the sodium tail is indeed con...