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| Above, Comet Hale-Bopp on April 11, 1997. Photo by Armand Vaquer. |
It is hard to believe, but this month marks 25 years since the discovery of Comet Hale-Bopp.
On the nights of July 22-23, 1995, Alan Hale of New Mexico and Thomas Bopp of Arizona discovered the comet at approximately the same time. Both sent their observations to the International Astronomical Union's Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams.
The "Great Comet of 1997" had a nucleus of 37 miles in diameter, which made it one of the largest comets seen.
Comet Hale-Bopp was eventually seen by more humans than any other comet in history.
On the night of April 11, 1997, a neighbor and I went out to the dark area of Acton, California (between Palmdale and the San Fernando Valley) to photograph the comet. I used my Olympus OM-1 35mm film camera. Thankfully, I knew how to take photographs of it from the astronomy class I took at California State University, Long Beach back in the late 1970s.
As Comet Hale-Bopp got closer to the sun, its brilliance could be easily seen from downtown Los Angeles.
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