Hale-Bopp: The Great Comet of 1997
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?