STEREO captured an unprecedented view of the he very brilliant Comet McNaught, one of the brightest comets of the last 40 years (Jan. 17, 2007). The comet tail, revealed in spectacular detail, is approximately 7 degrees in length and shows multiple rays. The image is very likely the most detailed ever taken of a comet while it is very close (0.17 Astronomical Units, which is even closer than Mercury) to the Sun. Also visible are Venus (bright object left of center at the bottom) and Mercury (appears from the right later in the sequence). Their brightness creates saturation streaks on the very sensitive imager.
Magnetic pole 'reversals' have no effect on the rotational poles of a star or planet.