Comet C/1995 O1 (Hale-Bopp)

The discovery of Comet Hale-Bopp prompted me to dig out my small portable equatorial mounting. Following some minor tweeking it was brought into service as a camera tracking platform. My small 90 mm Maksutov telescope was employed as a guidescope. An additional adaptor plate was made to allow the guidescope and camera to be mounted together.

The following photographs were taken from The Astronomy Centre, Todmorden, Lancashire. This site has a fairly dark overhead sky, but at low elevations (where Hale-Bopp was located) low pressure sodium street lamps begin to interfere with photography. However, the blue ion tail is certainly visible on the resulting photographs.

Slight processing was carried out digitally using Adobe Photoshop to remove some of the light pollution. Only level adjustment was carried out. No unsharp masking was applied to the images on this page.

All photographs are copyright 1997, David J. Cash.

26 March 1997 (UT)

This night was one of the best at the Astronomy Centre. The comet was superb in 80mm binoculars with both tails giving an almost 3D appearance.

This is a 4 minute exposure with a Vivitar 70/200mm f4.5 zoom lens set at 200mm and f/5.6. The film used was Fuji Super G+ 800. The exposure began at about 20:30UT.

This is a 4 minute exposure with a Vivitar 70/200mm f4.5 zoom lens set at 80mm and f/5.6. The film used was Fuji Super G+ 800. The exposure began at about 21:30UT. Tracking on the comet has resulted in the high voltage pylon being smeared out !

28 March 1997 (UT)

This night was also good at the Astronomy Centre.

These are both 4 minute exposures with a Vivitar 70/200mm f4.5 zoom lens set at 200mm and f/5.6. The film used was Fuji Super G+ 800. The exposure began at about 20:45 and 20:50UT.

This is a 4 minute exposure with a Vivitar 70/200mm f4.5 zoom lens set at 80mm and f/5.6. The film used was Fuji Super G+ 800. The exposure began at about 21:30UT. Notice the double cluster in the top left hand corner of the frame. Tracking on the comet has resulted in the high voltage pylon being smeared out !

11 April 1997 (UT)

Slight atmospheric haze affected the sky transparency. Sodium street lamp light pollution yields a yellow/orange tinge to the photographs. Hale-Bopp was also located at a lower elevation - deeper in the murky Lancashire sky !

This is a 4 minute exposure with a Vivitar 70/200mm f4.5 zoom lens set at 200mm and f/5.6. The film used was Fuji Super G+ 800. The exposure began at about 21:30UT.