Since this Comet is well advertized (unlike Hyakutake a year ago) this page is not as much a set of instructions about where to look for the comet as much as a tribute to it and a collection of my own images. I will nevertheless give the blissfully simple instructions - once:
Go out of town to the northwest, look west-northwest between one and two hours after sunset. Look west-northwest about a quarter of the way up from the horizon. The comet is the weird fuzzy star with the "jet contrail" STANDING STILL with the rest of the stars.
The Comet is special - even if your interests do not include astronomy - for the following reason above all: it is one of the few objects outside of the sun, moon, and stars that you can see in space without any special equipment. It is new to the heavens. If you see it in a dark sky, another dimension is added: it's remarkably beautiful. If you want to learn more about comets from me, see my own description of "what is a comet?". For a vastly outdated and outclassed (by this Comet and Hyakutake) description of what comets USUALLY look like, you can visit my page, "What does a comet look like". Both of these pages were created last year for Comet Hyakutake. The best thing to do to find information on the Comet is to follow the links below:
Link to My Comet Photos
Links to Interesting Places:
THE JPL COMET HALE-BOPP HOME PAGE maintained by Ron Baalke. This is the Center of the Internet right now. This site and its mirrors receive over one million hits per day, and with good reason. About 2500 electronic images are archived there, as well as a continuously updated list of news bulletins on the Comet. If the site is busy, try the original site or the third alternate site.
THE EUROPEAN SOUTHERN OBSERVATORY HALE-BOPP INFORMATION PAGE is the source of the best news available. Astronomer Richard West (famous for a Comet of his own a while back) creates a new and extensive update each week or so on all aspects of the Comet.
Alan Hale, co-discoverer of the Comet, helps maintain WWW.HALEBOPP.COM, which is, effectively, the "official site", if there is one. It is the best place to go if you don't already know something about comets.
One of the most fascinating studies that anyone can do is to watch the comet from night to night and observe changes that ocurr in its appearance. The tail shows and will show all sorts of structure, though this is subtle. One of the changes that have already ocurred is the appearance of two tails of different composition, one of DUST, the other of IONIZED GAS. Ions are atoms stripped of one or more electrons, in this case because of bombardment by the solar wind. The dust tail is whiter and more fan-like. The ion tail is bluer and will appear very straight, though careful observation or photographs will show that it has kinks and ripples, both artifacts of turbulance in the solar wind. These tails, especially the dust tail, may also ultimately split.
If you have access to a telescope you may be able to see other phenomena. Watch for changes from night to night in the appearance of the coma. It may change shape to more or less oval, or become irregular. Streamers or spirals may appear in it, being the direct effect of eruptions on the nucleus. The starlike center may appear to move backward in the coma as the comet gets further from the sun. The coma may appear assymetric about the sunward axis. As the comet recedes from the sun all features will become smaller and less definite until it has become merely a fabulous fuzzball once again.
Return HOME
To COMET HYAKUTAKE page
To my SPACE SCIENCES page
