Comet Hale-Bopp with a 50mm lens

This shot was taken on Saturday April 5, 1997, 5 days after the comet made its closest approach to the Sun. The comet's tail consisted of gas and dust. The tail was split because the two materials had different masses and thus behaved differently in the Sun's gravity. In this shot the Double Cluster can be seen in the upper right corner.

This picture is a 3 minute 50mm piggy back exposure on Fuji Super G 800 film at f2.8.

JPL's Hale-Bopp for the non-astronomer

The Nine Planets Comet site

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