APOD: Hale-Bopp: The Great Comet of 1997 (2022 Apr 08)

Comments and questions about the APOD on the main view screen.
Post Reply
User avatar
APOD Robot
Otto Posterman
Posts: 5345
Joined: Fri Dec 04, 2009 3:27 am
Contact:

APOD: Hale-Bopp: The Great Comet of 1997 (2022 Apr 08)

Post by APOD Robot » Fri Apr 08, 2022 4:05 am

Image Hale-Bopp: The Great Comet of 1997

Explanation: Only twenty-five years ago, Comet Hale-Bopp rounded the Sun and offered a dazzling spectacle in planet Earth's night skies. Digitized from the original astrophoto on 35mm color slide film, this classic image of the Great Comet of 1997 was recorded a few days after its perihelion passage on April 1, 1997. Made with a camera and telephoto lens piggy-backed on a small telescope, the 10 minute long, hand-guided exposure features the memorable tails of Hale-Bopp, a whitish dust tail and blue ion tail. Here, the ion tail extends well over ten degrees across the northern sky. In all, Hale-Bopp was reported as visible to the naked eye from late May 1996 through September 1997. Also known as C/1995 O1, Hale-Bopp is recognized as one of the most compositionally pristine comets to pass through the inner Solar System. A visitor from the distant Oort cloud, the comet's next perihelion passage should be around the year 4380 AD. Do you remember Hale-Bopp?

<< Previous APOD This Day in APOD Next APOD >>

User avatar
orin stepanek
Plutopian
Posts: 8200
Joined: Wed Jul 27, 2005 3:41 pm
Location: Nebraska

Re: APOD: Hale-Bopp: The Great Comet of 1997 (2022 Apr 08)

Post by orin stepanek » Fri Apr 08, 2022 12:49 pm

APOD April 08; 2022
Do I remember, Yes I was at workn at night and had to get some parts from the parts room;! The attendant invited to go to the roof of the factory! It was a clear night; and Lo and behold there in the sky loomed the greatest sight; Hale-Bopp! The only comet I had ever seen!
HaleBoppSeip_c1024.jpg
Comet_Hale-Bopp_over_Pyramids_at_Giza_1997_John-Goldsmith_ESA.jpg
Orin

Smile today; tomorrow's another day!

jgalpin

Re: APOD: Hale-Bopp: The Great Comet of 1997 (2022 Apr 08)

Post by jgalpin » Fri Apr 08, 2022 8:20 pm

How does one perform a hand-guided, 10 minute exposure?

User avatar
johnnydeep
Commodore
Posts: 2781
Joined: Sun Feb 20, 2011 8:57 pm

Re: APOD: Hale-Bopp: The Great Comet of 1997 (2022 Apr 08)

Post by johnnydeep » Fri Apr 08, 2022 9:04 pm

jgalpin wrote: Fri Apr 08, 2022 8:20 pm How does one perform a hand-guided, 10 minute exposure?
Very carefully? :ssmile: But seriously, I was wondering the same thing! Presumably the comet wasn't moving very fast in the FOV.
--
"To B̬̻̋̚o̞̮̚̚l̘̲̀᷾d̫͓᷅ͩḷ̯᷁ͮȳ͙᷊͠ Go......Beyond The F͇̤i̙̖e̤̟l̡͓d͈̹s̙͚ We Know."{ʲₒʰₙNYᵈₑᵉₚ}

User avatar
Chris Peterson
Abominable Snowman
Posts: 18112
Joined: Wed Jan 31, 2007 11:13 pm
Location: Guffey, Colorado, USA
Contact:

Re: APOD: Hale-Bopp: The Great Comet of 1997 (2022 Apr 08)

Post by Chris Peterson » Fri Apr 08, 2022 9:10 pm

jgalpin wrote: Fri Apr 08, 2022 8:20 pm How does one perform a hand-guided, 10 minute exposure?
That was the standard way of making all astronomical images until camera guided systems came along, 20 or 30 years ago. You sit at the telescope peering through an attached guidescope and keep your reference object (usually a star, but in this case a comet) centered in the cross hairs by pushing buttons on a control paddle. Not fun, and given how much less sensitive film is than CCD sensors, and how difficult stacking shorter images is with film, exposures tended to be very long.

A mere 10-minute exposure was easy compared to most targets.
Chris

*****************************************
Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
https://www.cloudbait.com

ddorn777
Ensign
Posts: 28
Joined: Fri Aug 26, 2011 4:06 pm

Re: APOD: Hale-Bopp: The Great Comet of 1997 (2022 Apr 08)

Post by ddorn777 » Fri Apr 08, 2022 9:52 pm

Hale-Bopp was the reason I originally discovered APOD, in '97. Some great memories sitting out under the sky on a blanket with my then new bride, looking at the beauty of the "Great Comet."

waterfeller@gmail.com

Re: APOD: Hale-Bopp: The Great Comet of 1997 (2022 Apr 08)

Post by waterfeller@gmail.com » Sat Apr 09, 2022 2:29 am

Yes, I remember it well. We drove up the road from our camp spot in Texas Flats to the Mule Canyon Ruins. There we observed Hale-Bopp from the restored kiva and toasted its return. The next night we walked from our campsite up the jeep road in Texas flats with Hale-Bopp straight ahead. Since then, we have referred to that road as Hale-Bopp Highway. - Roger Hopkins

Stephenwiggins

Re: APOD: Hale-Bopp: The Great Comet of 1997 (2022 Apr 08)

Post by Stephenwiggins » Sat Apr 09, 2022 6:44 am

Hale-Bopp was a splendid sight. Comet West (1975-76) however was brighter and larger with a multi-rayed tail and a nucleus that was visible in broad daylight as a tiny companion to the sun.

Post Reply