Comet Hale-Bopp viewed from Los Alamos

Comet Hale-Bopp has headed south for the next 2400 years. It was a Great comet! The comet is slowly getting further from Earth.... The closest approach to the Sun was on April 1, 1997. The whitish dust tail was easy to see, but you couldn't see the other tail (the bluish ion tail) without very dark conditions. To take pictures of the comet, we piggybacked an SLR camera on the back of a tracking telescope. For a "static picture" such as on April 5, 1997, we used a fast film (Fuji 800), a good lens stopped down at least one stop from its fastest settting, and then a 1-minute exposure. Typically, at 30 seconds, you will get star trails (due to the Earth's rotation) even with a 50 mm lens. For higher magnifications, you must use shorter exposures to avoid significant trailing....... unless you have special guiding equipment. 

• Comet Hale-Bopp on March 29, 1997. By Alex Wurden and Glen Wurden, observing from Overlook Park in Los Alamos, New Mexico, between 8:00-9:00 pm . We used an Olympus 300 mm f4.5 lens, ASA 400 Kodak PPF film, guided for a 10-minute exposure on the comet head. Also, Comet Hale-Bopp using a smaller Olympus 135 mm lens at f4, for a 10 minute exposure, which shows more of the tail. The dust fan is much bigger relative to a few weeks ago. Finally, an untracked 30 second exposure with a 50 mm f1.4 lens, including the mesa top in the foreground.
• Comet Hale-Bopp on March 17, 1997, at 4:21 AM MST, by Alex Wurden and Glen Wurden, observing from Los Alamos, New Mexico. We used an Olympus 300 mm f4.5 lens, ASA 400 Kodak PPF film, guided for a 10-minute exposure on the comet head. Also, Comet Hale-Bopp using a smaller Olympus 135 mm lens at f4, for a 10 minute exposure, starting at 4:35 AM, which shows more of the tail.
• Comet Hale-Bopp on March 9, 1997, at 5:02AM MST, by Alex Wurden and Glen Wurden. This is our personal favorite photo, to date. We used an Olympus 300 mm f4.5 lens, ASA 400 Kodak PPF film, guided for a 10-minute exposure on the comet head. Also, Comet Hale-Bopp using a smaller Olympus 135 mm lens at f4, for a 7 minute exposure, starting at 4:43 AM, which shows more of the tail.
• Comet Hale-Bopp on March 6, 1997, at 4:40am MST, by Alex Wurden and Glen Wurden, 300 mm f4.5 lens, ASA 400 Kodak PPF film, guided for a 10-minute exposure on the comet head.
• Comet Hale-Bopp on Feb. 10, 1997, at 5:18am MST, by Alex Wurden and Glen Wurden, 300 mm f4.5 lens, ASA 1600 Fuji color print film, guided for 6-minute exposure on star field. Note the Dumbell Nebula (M27) near the end of the blue ion tail. The dust tail is whitish, and at a different angle than the ion tail. Photo from Los Alamos, New Mexico.
• Comet Hale-Bopp on Nov. 7, 1996, about 8:15pm MST, photographed with a 3 minute exposure on a 16-bit 512x512 pixel cooled-CCD Pixelvision camera, using a 400 mm f5.6 lens, and a three minute exposure, guided on the star background. By Glen Wurden and Fred Wysocki, in Los Alamos, New Mexico.
• Same image of Comet Hale-Bopp on Nov. 7, 1996, but processed differently to bring out the wide, fan-shaped dusty tail.
• Other Links:Alex Wurden's Home Page, 1997 International Science and Engineering Fair results, or Comet Hale-Bopp Home Page or JPL Comet Observation Home Page

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Last updated 10/31/00.
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