Comet Hale-Bopp

Pictures by Philippe Demoulin

Hale-Bopp et Geoffroy

Picture taken at Deulin (Hotton), on March 31, 1997 at 21h35 UT+2, with the help of my nephew, Geoffroy Symons (10 years old).
Lens: 50 mm at f/1.8.  Exposure time 10 seconds.  Film Fujicolor SG800.

Picture taken at Deulin (Hotton), on March 31, 1997 at 22h07 UT+2.
Lens: 50 mm at f/1.8.  Exposure time 30 seconds.  Film Fujicolor SG800.

Picture taken at Morville (Durbuy), on April 1, 1997 at 22h15 UT+2.
The orange color of the sky is due to the sodium lights of Barvaux, 6 km North; the tree is illuminated by a street-lamp using a mercury lamp, which gives a greenish color.
Today the comet is at perihelion, i.e. at the closest approach to the Sun, at the respectable distance of 136.8 million km.  The next time it will come so close from the Sun will be during its next passage, in 2380 years !
Lens: 29 mm at f/2.8.  Exposure time 30 seconds.  Film Fujicolor SG800.

Picture taken at the inter-allied memorial, at Cointe (Liège), on April 3, 1997 at 21h30 UT+2.
Lens: 29 mm at f/2.8.  Exposure time 40 seconds.  Film Fujicolor SG800.

The Cointe basilica (Liège) and the comet Hale-Bopp, on April 4, 1997 at 21h08 UT+2.
Lens: 29 mm at f/2.8.  Exposure time 5 seconds.  Film Fujichrome Provia 1600 (slide).

Picture taken at the Jerusalem Cross, at Beausaint (La Roche en Ardenne), on April 6, 1997 at 21h37 UT+2.
Lens: 50 mm at f/1.8.  Exposure time 30 seconds.
Film Fujichrome Provia 1600 (slide).

Picture taken at Beausaint (La Roche en Ardenne), on April 6, 1997 at 22h35 UT+2.
Notice the open cluster M34 at the beginning of the gas tail.  This cluster is a group of about 80 stars, located at 1400 light years distance.
Lens: 135 mm at f/2.8.  Exposure time 2 minutes (manual tracking with a home-made simplified equatorial mounting).
Film Fujicolor SG800.

The Hale-Bopp comet in Perseus.
The blue gas tail and the dust tail are easily visible; on the picture, they are about 12° long, corresponding to a length of 80 million kilometers!  A longer exposure would have revealed the real length of the tail, which extended over 150 million kilometers!
Notice the h and chi Per stars clusters near the end of the dust tail.
Picture taken at Beausaint (La Roche en Ardenne), on April 6, 1997 at 22h56 UT+2.
Lens: 50 mm at f/1.8.  Exposure time 105 seconds (manual tracking with a home-made simplified equatorial mounting).
Film Fujicolor SG1600.

Picture taken at the Jerusalem Cross, at Beausaint (La Roche en Ardenne), on April 6, 1997 at 23h03 UT+2.  The orange color of the sky is due to the lights of the village of Hotton (at 12 km) and of the Condroz road (at 24 km).
Lens: 50 mm at f/1.8.  Exposure time 2 minutes (manual tracking with a home-made simplified equatorial mounting).
Film Fujicolor SG1600.

Back to the Hale-Bopp pictures index