In the summer of 1996 the astronomy press was buzzing with news of a new comet, Hale-Bopp, racing toward a rendez-vous with the Earth. I first spotted it with my telescope at the cabin in August, 1996, and took this picture. (Click on the pictures to enlarge.)
During that fall and early winter, the comet was not visible, but it was calculated to become visible again in the mornings of early February, 1997. So, I would get up at 4:00 each morning and go up on the then-undeveloped portion of South Mountain in Draper. (If you know me, you know that for me to get out of bed THAT EARLY was a real sacrifice for "science.") If you're wondering why the stars in the Feb. 7 picture (above) are so wavy and some have spikes of light at each end, it's because I was using a small car-top tripod that I had to hold onto because of the fierce wind. The wind and my body shivering caused the wavy effect, and the pushing and releasing of the shutter release button caused the spikes. I didn't use my cable release because both hands were busy holding the camera from blowing away, so I had to do the release by hand. That's probably more than you ever wanted to know about it, right?
Anyway, these next pictures show it getting ever bigger, and moving through Sagitta (the little arrow), and into the bottom of Cygnus (the swan). (Feb. 9, 12, 19, below.)
Notice how the comet (above) has moved away from Sagitta (the little arrow). In the next picture (Feb. 24) it has moved further to the left and below Cygnus (the swan). Sagitta is no longer even in the frame.
In the last photo (a month later - March 30, 1997)), the comet has moved through several constellations, into Cassiopeia and Perseus. It is now visible in the early evening. It is also near its closest point to the Earth. Eleven years later (Dec., 2008), I just now noticed that this photo also has a meteor in it! It is the very faint diagonal streak near the center of the frame. COOL! (The faint horizontal streaks near the top of the frame are not astronomical phenomena - just scratches on the negative. Dang!) This last photo was taken the same night as the Hale-Bopp photos posted several months ago on this same site (see earlier posts).
I continued to photograph the comet for another two months, as it became more distant and appeared smaller. I am anxiously awaiting the next fabulous comet. Holmes in 2007 was cool (see my earlier posts), but nothing to match Hale-Bopp.
Clear Skies!
