Hale-Bopp in February 1997

Today's weather from WTOC-TV by Pat Prokop The Home Port of Topi Tuomi Links to other Hale-Bopp pages This Page in Finnish! JPL - Ron Baalke JPL - Ron Baalke: HB Timeline - 1997 Other links - Ron Baalke JPL - Charles S. Morris Near-Live Comet Watching System (NASA) Gary W. Kronkg The Puckett Observatory Sky Online's Comet Page www. halebopp.com European Southern Observatory Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias Jyv酲kyl鄚 Sirius Dale Ireland Crni Vrh Observatory, Slovenia Image Gallery Click on the images below to see a larger version 50k jpg Comet Hale-Bopp on Jan 31, 1997, by Tim Puckett, Ellijay, GA 74k jpg Comet Hale-Bopp on Feb 12, 1997, by Takuo Kojima, Chiyoda, Japan 43k jpg Comet Hale-Bopp on Mar 07, 1997, by Jose-Luis Ortiz, Spain 91k jpg Comet Hyakutake on Mar 25, 1996, by Andy Blackburn, Savannah, GA. Will Hale-Bopp be as spectacular as Hyakutake in 1996?		Comet Hale-Bopp in February, 1997. A view from Savannah, GA (32摸, 81斡) by Topi K. Tuomi Photo: Tim Puckett Archive page; last update on 02/28/1997 (Only 32 days until perihelion) Comet magnitude was about 0.9 March pictures and observations and April pictures and observations are on their own archive pages. Backyard Astronomy Page will continue from where Hale-Bopp fades away. February photographs of comet Hale-Bopp The photo on the right was taken by Andy Blackburn, an OAA member, on Skidaway Island February 12, 1997. He exposed Fuji 800ASA print color film for 45 seconds with his Olympus OM-1 camera. The bright cloud in the picture is already illuminated by the morning twilight. Compare the comet to Altair (mag .9), the lower one of the two bright stars on the right.
		The second photo, taken on February 16, 1997, shows what a difference only four days have made. Andy used the same camera and film on both photos, but this photo was exposed for 60 seconds, which might explain some of the difference in the brightness. Notice the blue ion tail pointing to the upper left.
		The third photo was taken on February 20, 1997, from my back yard on Wilmington Island. I used my Canon EOS Rebel X camera with the zoom at 80mm/f5.6, piggybacked on the telescope I used to track the comet. Exposure time was one minute on Kodak Royal Gold 1000 film.
		The fourth photo was taken a few minutes later than the third one, in the same place. The dawn has progressed rapidly, and the comet and the stars moved up. Please note that this photo and the one above are tilted 32 degrees to the right, because of the equatorial mount of the telescope used for tracking and as a camera stand.
		Photo below: Crni Vrh Observatory, Slovenia. The false color picture was taken 1997 Feb 08: These months are very interesting in astronomical sense. Comet C/1995 O1 (Hale-Bopp), discovered a year and half ago on the same night by two astronomers, Alan Hale and Thomas Bopp, will make its closest approach to Earth on March 22nd, and to the Sun (in perihelion) on April first. It is expected to be a very bright object first on the morning sky, and later on the evening sky. Since the beginning of January the comet has been visible in the east just before the morning twilight, and is already visible almost 3 hours before the sunrise in Savannah. On a clear sky the comet is very easily visible to the naked eye, and you should find it in the east-northeast easily between 4:30 a.m. and 6:15 a.m., before the dawn. The comet looks in binoculars very much like in the smaller picture above; the tail is not as prominent as in the picture on the right, which shows two tails. In this picture, north is up and east left, but remember, that looking towards the eastern horizon, the east is down, and north to the upper left. Thus, you should tilt the picture strongly to the left, or your head to the right when looking at this picture. It may be easier to tilt your head rather than your computer monitor. How to locate the comet Because the comet has already passed the first magnitude in brightness, you only need very general instructions to find it: Before 6 o'clock in the morning, go to a place providing an uninterrupted view of the eastern sky; these days my favorite viewing place is my own yard, since the comet happens to be located in an opening in the trees toward east-northeast. Locate the Summer Triangle: Vega (magnitude 0.1), the brightest star high in the northeast, Altair (mag 0.9) to the lower right of Vega, and Deneb (mag 1.3) to the lower left of Vega. Hale-Bopp has travelled left thru the lower part of the triangle, and is now below Deneb, far left from Altair. The comet is moving quite rapidly; these instructions have to be revised almost daily now. Dale Ireland has a good comet locator map on his comet page. Actually, since the comet is getting so bright, you'll find it with this simple piece of advice: go out before six a.m., and look at the northeastern sky. If the sky is clear, you'll see a handful of bright stars on the sky. The comet is the one with a tail pointing up. Planet Jupiter (mag -2.0) is also visible in the east just before the sunrise, and is higher every morning, rising now about 5:10. It is far right of Altair, and much lower in the horizon. Mars is high in the south in the morning. Saturn, Venus, and Mercury are too close to the sun to be seen. Recent observations in Savannah, GA Saturday, February 01, 1997 Perfect weather: clear, calm, 48慚/9慢. Some interference from the waning crescent moon. The comet was already up at 4:30 a.m., although so low in the eastern horizon, that it was still quite faint to the naked eye. Between 5 and 6 was the best time for viewing: Hale-Bopp was very easy to see on the upper left of Altair, which rose around 5:05, and towards bright Vega. The comet looked somewhat brighter than Tarazed, a 2.80 magnitude star between it and Altair. This is consistent with the observations on the Recent News and Observations page by Charles Morris. The most popular magnitude now on that page seems to be 2.2, which still promises better than magnitude 0 comet around the April Fool's Day! The twilight starts to illuminate the sky after 6, and the comet, especially its tail, becomes more and more difficult to observe, until it totally disappears from view by about 6:45 a.m. The sun rose today at 7:18. Sunday, February 02, 1997 Partly cloudy, calm, 55慚/13慢. The low, puffy clouds covered about half of the sky, when I hit the dock 6:45. It took about 25 minutes before the comet managed to show thru the clouds, but then it was mostly visible for the last half an hour of the possible viewing time ending about 6:45. Magnitude determination wasn't possible today due to the poor visibility. The sun rose today at 7:17. Monday, February 03, 1997 Cloudy, calm, 59慚/15慢. The crescent moon was visible thru the clouds at 6 a.m., but no stars or comets. How disappointing... Tuesday, February 04, 1997 Cloudy, calm, 59慚/15慢 - a carbon copy of yesterday. The infrared satellite image from Purdue University shows the eastern states almost totally covered with clouds; only Florida seems to be clear. See the WTOC TV weather page for more images and full weather coverage. Wednesday, February 05, 1997 Clear, calm, 55慚/13慢 - a delightful early morning for comet watching! The comet became visible in the binoculars at 4:40, when it was about 4 degrees above horizon, and was easily visible by the naked eye before 5 o'clock. The broad, upward pointing tail is also visible by the naked eye, but you need binoculars to really enjoy the beauty of the comet. There was no moonlight; the very thin crescent moon rose just before 5:30. I estimated that the comet was as bright as Sadr, the middle star of constellation Cygnus, magnitude 2.3. My estimates seem to be always behind those of Charles Morris, who had the magnitude of the comet at 2.0 already on Monday. Today I studied the subject of "Atmospheric Extinction", and came up with the table below on this page. I got an explanation to my low estimate, and if I correct it for the extinction, it will match the estimate by Charles Morris. Thursday, February 06, 1997 Clear, but windy and cool morning, temperature around 50慚/10慢. I met David Burrow, an OAA member, at the Rails to Trails park on Tybee Road, and we had the most fantastic view of three morning stars and a thin crescent moon in the eastern horizon. Mercury was to the upper right of the moon, and Venus and Jupiter to the lower left. And, of course, comet Hale-Bopp looked very good with naked eye tail and magnitude of about 2.0. Friday, February 07, 1997 The morning was cloudy, but now at 4:30 p.m. it's sunny and partly clear. Let's hope the clouds will stay away from the Oglethorpe Astronomical Associations star gazing party tonight, so we'll see something in the sky when we gather at the Rails to Trails park on highway 80 just east of Wilmington Island. There will be some telescopes there aimed at interesting objects, like the Orion nebula. - My wish was granted: the evening was very pleasant, and the clouds cooperated at least from 7 to 9 p.m. It was fun! Saturday, February 08, 1997 At 4 a.m. I got up, peeked outside to make sure it was cloudy, and went back to bed. It feels good sometimes to sleep past nine and reload for the next early morning comet check-up. - The sky was clear in the evening, and I spent a couple of hours finding new telescopic objects in the southeastern sky visible from my back yard. Sunday, February 09, 1997 Somehow the clouds found their way back to Savannah, and the hopes for seeing the comet through my new telescope went unfulfilled once more. Monday, February 10, 1997 And the clouds just don't give up! Tuesday, February 11, 1997 The morning was cloudy, again, but the evening is clear and really promising for tomorrow morning! Wednesday, February 12, 1997 Finally a clear morning. Comet Hale-Bopp looked about the same as last week in binoculars, but today I got my first view of it through a telescope. It had a bright stellar center, and a wide tail opening upward. It looked similar to the Kojima image in my Image Gallery on the left, except that the nucleus looked much smaller. The dark area above the nucleus was well visible. - To see more than a few degrees of the tail you need to observe the comet in a very dark place, which Savannah is not. The stars Vega (up) and Deneb (lower left), and the comet (lower right) now form an equilateral triangle. With the naked eye the comet looks still almost like a star. It's magnitude is approaching that of Deneb (mag. 1.3). - The comet disappeared from the naked eye around 6:30, and from the telescope at 6:45. Thursday, February 13, 1997 Cloudy today, and the rest of the week and weekend? Friday, February 14, 1997 The cloudy and rainy weather continues. Saturday, February 15, 1997 Cloudy morning. Sunday, February 16, 1997 The sky was partially clear, when I woke up at 8. My alarm clock is now set to go off at 5 tomorrow, the Presidents Day. So, I missed the comet this morning, but Andy Blackburn had better luck. Here is his email message to me today: "Topi, I went out to Priest Landing at Skidaway Island, and WOW, Hale-Bopp looked great! On the way I could see the comet through my tinted windshield. You could tell that this object was a comet. Seeing was great. My site offered shielding from the city light pollution and stars covered the sky. Through a 80mm scope I could see a dense bright starlike nucleus and a nice pronounced dust tail and an ion tail that veered to the left of the dust tail. With the naked-eye it now looks like a comet instead of a "fuzzy" blob. I took numerous photos, and due to brightening since Wednesday, the photos are much more vivid. My estimate is about +1.2 magnitude." Monday, February 17, 1997, The Presidents' Day Comet Hale-Bopp had really improved a lot since the last time I saw it five days ago. It is now located about half way between Altair and Deneb, and looks approximately as bright as Deneb, which is a magnitude 1.3 star. Because the comet is lower in the sky, correcting its magnitude for the atmospheric extinction (see the table below) results in an estimated value of +1.2, which matches Andy's estimate from yesterday. The tails are now becoming rapidly more visible, as we are gaining a side view of the comet, instead of a head-on view. Tuesday, February 18, 1997 A lovely morning for comet viewing, clear, but not so cold (50慚/10慢). The comet is really obvious on the eastern sky with a naked eye tail. With binoculars and telescope the tails are really becoming impressive. I think Hale-Bopp will truly be a great comet! Wednesday, February 19, 1997 I took some pictures of the comet between 5:30 and 6:15, but managed only expose half of the roll before the sky got too bright to continue. Hopefully tomorrow morning will give me another chance to experiment. The comet looked a little bit brighter than yesterday, but I had really no time to look at it because my camera got all my attention. Thursday, February 20, 1997 I took the pictures remaining in the roll, and will see later today how they turned out. Using the cable release I purchased yesterday made it possible to use exposure times longer than 30 seconds. Since I don't have a clock drive on my telescope, I had to trace the comet manually through the telescope during the exposures. This will prevent trailing of the comet and the stars on the pictures. Friday, February 21, 1997 Fog prevented the viewing of the comet this morning, but the day turns out to be sunny after the fog disappeared by 8 a.m. Near the top of this page, below Andy's pictures, you'll find one of my pictures from yesterday. I'll put some more pictures on later, and try to improve the quality of the photos as well. Scanning the pictures will hopefully give sharper images than using the camcorder/Snappy combination. Saturday, February 22, 1997 Rainy morning, rainy day. But the infrared satellite photo at 6:15 p.m. today shows clear skies just west of us. There's hope for tomorrow morning! - I added one scanned picture (number four) at the beginning of this page. It's somewhat sharper than number three above it, which was digitized using a camcorder and Snappy card. These images are not of the same quality as the CCD images, but they at least show that amateurs can have fun with comet photography, too. Sunday, February 23, 1997 The clear weather returned to Savannah before midnight, as anticipated. In the morning comet Hale-Bopp was very prominent in the eastern sky, just below the Summer Triangle, as if it belonged to it as the fourth wheel. It was located between Deneb and Altair, but already lower in the sky than Altair, and closer to Deneb than to Altair. All three objects looked about as bright, but because the comet was lower in the sky, it must be brighter than Deneb (mag 1.3) and as bright as Altair (mag 0.9). So, my conclusion is that Hale-Bopp has now surpassed the first magnitude in brightness, and will probably go to negative magnitude by the end of March. - The moonlight washed out the dimmer stars and the extended tails of the comet, but in any case, Hale-Bopp was an impressive sight! Monday, February 24, 1997 I stepped outside at 5:30 and although the skies were almost 100% covered with clouds, the comet and Altair were visible. I noticed the equal brightness of those two, and came back inside to get my jacket and binoculars. When I returned outside, the clouds had covered both objects, and that's the way it stayed until dawn. Tuesday, February 25, 1997 The weather channel shows a huge green blob extending from Texas all the way to Savannah. We can expect a lot of rain in the near future, and forget the comet viewing for a few days. It doesn't really matter, because the moon would prevent good visibility anyway. Wednesday, February 26, 1997 The weather is still messy: clouds, rain showers, drizzle, and fog. Thursday, February 27, 1997 The fog that was forming at midnight, had disappeared by 6 a.m., when I checked the comet. The sky was almost clear, and I viewed the comet for a while, but because of the bright moonlight and breaking dawn, the tail of the comet could not be observed any more. So, I turned my telescope toward the moon, and studied its details for a while. Friday, February 28, 1997 The morning was unusually warm: the temperature was 63慚 (17慢), when I carried my telescope to my front yard at 5 a.m., where the comet was visible better than from my back yard. The moon was still too bright, but the banding apparent in the extract of Terry Platt's picture on the right was clearly visible in the scope, just like yesterday. The low clouds started interfering after 5:30, and I decided to have some more sleep. What to expect The following values are from the Orbit and Ephemeris Information by Don Yeomans. This table is greatly simplified; if you want to see more data, please refer to the original table. The distances of the comet from Earth and Sun are in Astronomical Units (AU=the mean distance Earth/Sun). Tmag1 is the prediction in the original table (01/19/97), and Tmag2 is the actual observed values from Charles Morris (smallest/average/biggest m1 estimate). More daily values will be added when necessary. The comet should reach its greatest brightness on March 27, and it will probably be a negative magnitude. The observed value at the end of February 0.88 (the average of the estimates on Feb. 28) was slightly ahead of the predicted 1.1. Table 1. Selected Ephemeris Values for Comet Hale-Bopp in 1997. Date R.A. Distance from #of (UT) J2000 Decl. Earth Sun TMag1 Tmag2 obs Feb 01 19 40 +15 28 2.004 1.368 2.5 2.1/2.30/2.9 11 Feb 02 19 42 +15 57 1.985 1.356 2.5 2.0/2.27/2.8 14 Feb 03 19 45 +16 27 1.965 1.344 2.4 1.8/2.10/2.4 10 Feb 04 19 48 +16 57 1.945 1.332 2.4 1.8/2.08/2.5 9 Feb 05 19 50 +17 29 1.925 1.320 2.3 1.7/1.90/2.1 9 Feb 06 19 53 +18 00 1.906 1.309 2.3 1.7/1.94/2.5 14 Feb 07 19 56 +18 33 1.886 1.297 2.2 1.4/1.79/2.4 13 Feb 08 19 58 +19 06 1.866 1.286 2.2 1.6/1.81/2.1 12 Feb 09 20 01 +19 40 1.846 1.274 2.1 1.3/1.68/2.4 24 Feb 10 20 04 +20 14 1.827 1.263 2.1 1.4/1.69/2.2 20 Feb 11 20 07 +20 50 1.807 1.251 2.0 1.3/1.70/2.2 20 Feb 12 20 10 +21 26 1.788 1.240 2.0 1.3/1.58/2.2 14 Feb 13 20 14 +22 02 1.769 1.229 1.9 1.3/1.52/1.9 17 Feb 14 20 17 +22 40 1.749 1.218 1.9 1.2/1.48/1.8 10 Feb 15 20 20 +23 18 1.730 1.207 1.8 1.1/1.34/1.8 18 Feb 16 20 24 +23 57 1.711 1.196 1.8 1.0/1.31/1.8 23 Feb 17 20 28 +24 36 1.693 1.186 1.7 1.1/1.36/2.0 12 Feb 18 20 31 +25 17 1.674 1.175 1.6 1.1/1.25/1.8 11 Feb 19 20 35 +25 58 1.656 1.164 1.6 1.0/1.18/1.4 22 Feb 20 20 39 +26 39 1.638 1.154 1.5 0.8/1.07/1.4 21 Feb 21 20 43 +27 21 1.620 1.144 1.5 0.9/1.12/1.5 13 Feb 22 20 47 +28 04 1.602 1.134 1.4 0.8/1.10/1.3 9 Feb 23 20 52 +28 48 1.585 1.124 1.4 0.7/1.01/1.2 22 Feb 24 20 56 +29 32 1.568 1.114 1.3 0.7/0.93/1.1 14 Feb 25 21 01 +30 16 1.552 1.104 1.3 0.6/0.94/1.3 21 Feb 26 21 06 +31 01 1.535 1.095 1.2 0.6/0.92/1.2 15 Feb 27 21 11 +31 46 1.519 1.086 1.2 0.7/0.82/1.0 10 Feb 28 21 16 +32 31 1.504 1.076 1.1 0.5/0.88/1.5 14 -- For more data, see March page (link at the top of the page) -- Clear skies! If you have any comments, please send email to Topi Tuomi.