Hale Bopp

Observer: Michael Horn
Location:Clermont, Queensland, Australia
Optics:350mm, f5.5.
Exposure: 5 minutes on Fuji G-800.

Observer: Mike Cecile
Location:Calgary, Canada
Optics:Tripod, Pentax 50mm lens at 1.8.
Exposure: 40 sec. exposure on 400 ASA Ektachrome pushed twice.

Observer: Michael Horn
Location:Clermont, Queensland, Australia
Optics:prime focus 1350mm.
Exposure: 4 minutes on Fuji G-800.

Observer: Tim Forrest
Location:Broad Creek, Newport, North Carolina
Optics:50 mm f/2.0
Exposure: 35 seconds on KODAK Royal Gold 1000.
There is a house in the trees directly below the comet. The trees appear fluorescent green because of the sodium security lights on the houses nearby. Notice the reflection of the comet in the creek.

Field 4 x 2,6 degrees. Dark substract, flat field and log enhance with CCDOPS36, PRISM.

Observers: Francesca Lucentini, Marco Paolo Pavese
Location: Genoa, Italy
Optics:Nikon F4 camera 16mm AFD at f/2.8.
Exposure: 40 seconds on FUJI PROVIA 400 ASA.

Sodium tail

Authors: Francois Colas and Jean Lecacheux
Location: Pic de Midi Observatory (France)
Optics: 50-mm F/1.4 Pentax and HiSiS-44 CCD camera (1536x1024 pixels).

We continue our systematic survey of both ion and atomic sodium tails in spite of low elevation and increasing twilight. On May 2nd around 20 h 40 UT we have made a 26 minutes exposure through our 2.8 nm wide interference filter centered on the 579.3 nm sodium D line and our 50 mm photographic lens. Contrary to our previous assumption, we find evidence of image pollution by faint H2O+ emissions in our filter bandpass. This effect explains changing features in the sodium tail from night to night, especially its odd binary appearance of May 1st evening. To correct the sodium image, we now subtract the ion contribution using a blue wide-band exposure made some minutes before. So the faint CO+/H2O+ streamers are completely removed, and even the previous fan shape of the sodium tail disappears. The sodium feature remains alone, about 9 degrees long (90 000 000 km), and incredibly narrow.

Observers: Dale Ireland
Location: Hood Canal, Washington
Optics:Nikkor 58mm f1.2 Noct lens.
Exposure: 20 seconds on Fuji 1600 film.
Hale-Bopp comet reflected in Hood Canal WA, as it sets behind the Olympic Mountains, May 2, 1997 0600 UT (11pm local time). Hood Canal is an arm of Puget Sound, about 5-7 miles across at this point, the mountains in the far distance about 6-8,000 ft high. A break in the haze and clouds revealed the comet and many stars. We were even able to watch the nucleus disappear behind the mountains and photograph just the tail rising from the peaks.

Different tails

Authors: Francois Colas, Jean Lecacheux, Sylvie Jancart and Luc Henrard
Location: Pic de Midi Observatory (France)
Optics: 50-mm F/1.4 Pentax and HiSiS-44 CCD camera (1536x1024 pixels).

During the night of the first of May, we tried to observe the differents features of the comet tail. As on April 29th we observed with a sodium filter to see the Na neutral emission, but also with a H2O+ filter (centered at 701 nm), a B filter to see C0+ emissions and a continuum filter (684 nm). The goal of the observations was to compare the morphology of the "differents tails". It is obvious that the images with CO+ and H2O+ filters are similar even if the dynamic is different. The image with the continuum filter shows the classic "dust tail". The image obtained with the Na filter is clearly different from the others, two streams beeing visible in the tail. This fact must be analysed with the Na production theories like in IAUC 6634 by H.Rauer and A. Fitzsimmons. The diagonal of the image is of 11 degrees.
There is also an animated GIF available of the same images.

Observers: Francesca Lucentini, Marco Paolo Pavese
Location: Genoa, Italy
Optics:Nikon F4 camera 50mm AFD at f/1.4.
Exposure: 15 seconds on Kodak Gold 1000 ASA.

Observers: David McDavid
Location: Limber Observatory, Pipe Creek, Texas
Here's a parting shot at Comet Hale-Bopp, taken between 02:33 and 02:42 UT on May 1, 1997 with the 10 cm Meade SCT that is normally used as a finder and guide scope on the 0.4 m telescope at Limber Observatory. The image is the average of six 60 s exposures with an unfiltered Photometrics CCD camera (Thomson 512 chip) and 2X focal reducer. North is up, east is left, and the field of view is about 1 degree. This comet appears to have some interesting "whiskers!"

This image, taken from a 13th floor at l'Hospitalet, is my last photo of this comet. Hale-Bopp is barely visible here, as usual at this light polluted place. I covered the lens partially during 30 of the 45 seconds exposure, to avoid overexposing the bottom part.