Comet Hale-Bopp Home Page

The Great Comet of 1997

Observer: David Lynch
Location: Puckett Observatory, Mountain Town, Georgia
Date: April 1, 1997 01:50 UT

Perihelion Is Today!

Current Magnitude: -0.9 to -0.4
Tail Length: ~10 Degrees (~20 Degrees at Dark Sites)
Comet Hale-Bopp 1997 Timeline
Earth Closest Approach: March 22, 1997 (1.315 AU)
Sun Closest Approach: April 1, 1997 03:14 UT (0.914 AU)
Current Distance From Earth: 1.351 AU (125.6 Million Miles)
Current Distance From Sun: 0.914 AU ( 85.0 Million Miles)
1 AU = 93 Million Miles = 150 Million Kilometers

This site is receiving over 1 million hits daily!.

Faster mirror sites are now available for this home page:

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/comet/
http://galileo.ivv.nasa.gov/comet/

"I predict that this could be the most viewed comet in all of human history." - Daniel Green
"MOMMY, MOMMY, I saw the VOMIT!" - Anonymous 4-year old

On July 23, 1995, an unusually bright comet outside of Jupiter's orbit (7.15 AU!) was discovered independently by Alan Hale, New Mexico and Thomas Bopp, Arizona. The new comet, designated C/1995 O1, is the farthest comet ever discovered by amateurs and appeared 1000 times brighter than Comet Halley did at the same distance. Normally, comets are inert when they are beyond the orbit of Jupiter, so it has been speculated that Comet Hale-Bopp is either a rather large comet or experienced a bright outburst (or both). The comet is still getting brighter as it approaches the Sun, and has already become the brightest comet since Comet West in 1976. From Hubble Space Telescope images, the comet's diameter has been determined to be about 40 km. The Pic du Midi Observatory has ascertained from their observations that the comet's rotation rate is 11.4 hours.

With over 2,300 images, this site has the largest collection of Comet Hale-Bopp images in the world available on the Internet. The home page is maintained soley on the volunteer efforts of myself. For additional updates and news on Comet Hale-Bopp, see Charles Morris' Information on Comet Hale-Bopp for Non-Astronomers.

I also strongly recommend that you go out and view Comet Hale-Bopp yourself if you haven't done so already. Bright comets like this don't come around that often, and this one is putting on a fabulous show!

Don't miss the Great Comet of 1997 - you still have time.

Ron Baalke

News Flash

Process of Producing Cyanogen Gas in Comet Hale-Bopp Explained (Ohio State University - March 27, 1997)
Comet Hale-Bopp Update (Richard West - April 1, 1997)
Renowned Comet Hunters To Gather At Caltech (Jet Propulsion Lab - March 31, 1997)
Updated Comet Hale-Bopp Orbit and Ephemeris Information (Don Yeomans - March 31, 1997)
Comet Hale-Bopp Home Page Tops 1.2 Million Hits/Day (Ron Baalke - March 29, 1997)
Science Paper on Hubble Space Telescope Hale-Bopp Results (Hal Weaver - March 27, 1997)
Comet Chasers Event on April 11 (Jet Propulsion Lab)
Polar Spacecraft Will Have Good View Of Comet Hale-Bopp (University of Iowa - March 28, 1997)
Hale-Bopp's Spring Spectacle (Sky & Telescope - March 28, 1997)
"Task Completed": Cult Members Hoped For Cosmic Rendezvous (Associated Press - March 28, 1997)
Comet Hale-Bopp Yields Secrets In The Infrared (Cornell University - March 27, 1997)
Mass Suicide May Have Link To Hale-Bopp (Associated Press - March 27, 1997)
Hubble and IUE Hale-Bopp Observations Surprise Astronomers (NASA - March 27, 1997)
Humans Have Feared Comets, Other Celestial Phenomena Through The Ages (University of Washington - March 24, 1997)
2,000th Comet Hale-Bopp Image (Ron Baalke - March 26, 1997).
Rockets To Launch Equipment To Take Data On Hale-Bopp (Associated Press - March 25, 1997)
Comet Hale-Bopp - When And Where To Watch (James Musser)
Ulysses Scientists Begin Capturing Unique View of Comet Hale-Bopp (JPL - March 19, 1997)

Recent Comet Hale-Bopp Images

Unless otherwise noted, all Comet Hale-Bopp images on this web page are copyrighted by the person or organization who obtained the image, and are not owned by JPL. If you wish to use any image in a publication or want to obtain hard copies of the image, please contact the owner of the image.

Lynch Image (April 1, 1997)
Mutti Image (April 1, 1997)
Pic du Midi Observatory Image (April 1, 1997)
Four Vesely Images (April 1, 1997)
Thirteen Bergeron Images (April 1, 1997)
Two Griffin Images (April 1, 1997)
Two Vodniza/Quinones Images (April 1, 1997)
Two Griffiths Images (April 1, 1997)
Candy Image (March 31, 1997)
Three Masi Images (March 31, 1997)
French Image (March 31, 1997)
Three Campbell Images (March 31, 1997)
DuBrall Image (March 31, 1997)
Masi Image (March 31, 1997)
Two Morgan Images (March 31, 1997)
Two Hutchinson Images (March 31, 1997)
Three Griffin Images (March 31, 1997)
Three Col Druscie Observatory Images (March 30, 1997)
Two Whiddon Images (March 30, 1997)
Two Tedor Images (March 30, 1997)
Two Park Images (March 30, 1997)
Three Featherston Images (March 30, 1997)
D'Andrea Image (March 30, 1997)
Espinosa Image (March 30, 1997)
Puckett Image (March 30, 1997)
Saeki Image (March 30, 1997)
Crni Vrh Observatory Image (March 30, 1997)
Two Ortiz Images (March 30, 1997)
Hutchinson Image (March 30, 1997)
Two Baalke Images (March 30, 1997)

What's New (Last Updated April 1, 1997)
The Discovery of Comet Hale-Bopp
Comet Hale-Bopp News Archive
Comet Hale-Bopp Ephemeris
Comet Hale-Bopp Image Archive (2,380 Images)
Animations (27)
Viewing Hints & Tips
Links to Other Hale-Bopp Home Pages

Special thanks to the for providing a mirror site for this home page!



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