Comet Observation
Local Home Page for Chernogolovka

File original: © Charles S. Morris / csm@encke.jpl.nasa.gov

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Click on images for full-scale view

Left: This is a long telephoto shot, using a 6x7 camera on an AstroPhysics 610mm f6 lens w/field-flattener (Traveler). Note: the moonlit conditions actually make the sky background bluish-gray, but the background has been adjusted black-gray for visual evaluation. The ion tail is very strong , and extends out of the frame (in spite of moonlight) -- at least 6 deg. The dust tail has become more intense (brighter and narrower), but still has an outer *fan*. Copyright¿1997 Bob Yen (byen@ix.netcom.com) (http://www.comet-track.com/hb/hb.html)

Right :This image is from a 14 minute exposure on Fuji G-800 film taken with a Genesis 4" F/5 on 08 March 1997 at 12:15 U.T. It was shot from North of Red Rock State Park, CA. The negative was scanned on Photo-CD, processed in Photoshop 3.0.4 using various techniques to bring out the delicate tail structure. Note the emerging structure in the dust tail of the comet. James R. Foster

Left: Drawing of the hoods on Hale-Bopp in the early morning sky Mar. 8.58 UT by Marcus Pun (e-mail: marcus@totalvideo.com) from Oakland, CA

Center: Image of Hale-Bopp taken on March 7 using a 10" MEAD reflector, Minolta 35mm X700 camera & 1600 speed film {FUJI} The exposure was 4 minutes. Tony Alonso (sfaris@edge.net)

Right: Hale-Bopp image were near Innsbruck/Austria on the 11.03.97; 3.56 UT. with a 200mm lens on Kodak Pro Gold 400 6x6 film; 18min by Bruno Stampfer, Martin Dandrea and Rainer Eisendle Heiligkreuz Observatory, Hall in Tyrol, Austria, Europe

Image of Hale-Bopp taken using a 180mm f/5.6 lens, and shows a two-frame mosaic. The field of view along the diagonal is about 3.4 degree. Each frame 2 min exposure. Image has been log-scaled. CCD SBIG ST-7 Location: Ceccano (FR) Italy, 231 meters above sea level. Gianluca Masi (gianmasi@fr.flashnet.it)

Click here to see yesterday's images

These charts, which were provided by Dale Ireland, show the where Comet Hale-Bopp is in the sky at a specific time (5am and 8pm local standard time) for observers at 45 and 35 degrees North latitude. (Click on image for larger view.)

This page has lots of images... a selection of recent images can be found here (revised 3/13/97)...there are hundreds images in the complete archive. Also, check out other home pages with recent images.

Last Updated: 14 March 1997

I want to thank everyone who has e-mailed me kind words concerning this home page...they are appreciated. When bright comets are around it is often difficult to respond to every message I receive (approaching 50/day). Usage of the home page is way up (as expected) with Comet Hale-Bopp...the page is currently getting about 6,000 users a day.

In this home page:

Comets Currently Visible (3/12/97)
The Great Comet of 1997...
Information on Comet Hale-Bopp for the Non-Astronomer Hale-Bopp rotates about twice a day (3/14/97)
Visibility of Hale-Bopp from the Southern Hemisphere
o Follow the Comet's Changing Brightness New Predictions on Hale-Bopp's brightness (3/14/97)
Recent News and Observations (3/14/97)
Comet Light Curves (3/14/97)
# Ephemerides for Current Visually Observable Comets Updated ephemeris for Hale-Bopp (3/4/97)
Comet Definitions
Other Sources of Comet Information (2/2/96)

Comet Images (2/5/97)
Other Pages Featuring Comet Images

Other Places

NASA Home Page
JPL Home Page

Awards

The biggest reward for doing this home page is the positive feedback that I get and the knowledge that users find this page a useful service.

In February 1996, Iway rated the COHP as one of the best 500 Web pages. In fact, they felt that it was the 15th best science page on the Web! Their reviews of the 25 top science home pages are given in this link.

This home page has also been recognized by Magellan, an independent outside reviewer, as a three-star site. You can search the Magellan database of 1.5+ million sites from the Other Sources of Comet Information page.

The Comet Observation Home Page was been selected to receive the Griffith Observatory Star Award for the week of February 2 - 8, 1997 for excellence in promoting astronomy to the public through the World Wide Web.

(Of course, I think it should have received four stars, but I am a bit biased.)

Statistics

Typically, about 1,000 individual users/computers access this page every day. These accesses create more than 15,000 entries per day in the access log. This amounts to an increase in the size of the access log of 1.5 Mbytes per day! However, the peak access rate during the C/1996 B2 (Hyakutake) apparition was 20,000+ users on March 25, 1996. During that date there were 374,132 entries in the access log accounting for ~30 MByte increase in the size of that file!!

This feedback form doesn't work always because of the significant load on this machine... if there is an error, please send regular e-mail...thanks, csm

Comments? (Please include your e-mail address. Often times your comments/questions require an individual response. I can't provide that if I don't know how to contact you!!)

NASA: Charles S. Morris / csm@encke.jpl.nasa.gov
Chernogolovka: Michael G. Gavrilov / gavrilov@issp.ac.ru