Hale-Bopp, Jupiter, and the Milky Way
Shining brightly,
the mighty Jupiter rules this gorgeous
Kodacolor photo of
the Milky Way near Sagittarius.
Astronomer Bill Keel took the picture earlier this month (July 7)
while standing near the summit of
Hawaii's Mauna Kea
contemplating the sky in the direction of the
center of the Galaxy (right of picture center).
In addition to the gas giant planet, which
is well placed for evening viewing,
the image contains an impressive sampler of celestial goodies.
Many famous emission nebulae
are visible as reddish patches -
M16, the Eagle nebula,
is just above and right of center, with
the Horseshoe nebula, M17, just below it and farther to the right.
Also, look for the Lagoon Nebula, M8, as
the brightest red patch at the right of the picture with
the Trifid Nebula, M20,
just above it and to the left.
The milky glow of distant unresolved stars
in the plane of our Galaxy (thus the term Milky Way) runs through
the image cut by dark, absorbing, interstellar
dust clouds.
The much anticipated
comet Hale-Bopp is also clearly visible. Where's the
comet? Click on the picture to view the comet's location
flanked by superposed vertical lines.
The comet was discovered while
still beyond the orbit of Jupiter
a year ago today independently by
Alan Hale
and Thomas Bopp. Astronomers monitoring
Hale-Bopp's activity report that
having now brightened to almost 6th
magnitude
it is still on track for becoming
an extremely bright naked-eye comet in early 1997.