Comet Hyakutake - Close-Up #1

Comet Hyakutake with the Schmidt Camera

This black and white photograph of Comet Hyakutake was taken with Kodak 4415 4x5 sheet film with
an ASA of 150 with the 10-inch Schmidt camera operating at f/2. The 60 minute guided exposure shows
the motion of the stars, while tracking on the comet's actual movement. This photo was taken on March
22, 1996, and shows much of the dust and gas tails at close range.

Comet Hyakutake was very close to the earth, and afforded astronomers, both amateur and professional,
an in-depth view of a bright comet with many new modern earth based telescopes and their newer faster
CCD's. Even orbiting satellites had great views of this, statistically, long overdue comet. In many minds,
the last great comet had been Comet West seen in 1976, some 20 years earlier. It also provided an
opportunity to fine tune comet operations for the next great comet, already discovered in 1995, Comet
Hale-Bopp, due in early 1997. Oh, well, we all know how great that comet was...look for yourself
right here!!! To return to this page, click 'back' after viewing Hale-Bopp.

Table Mountain Observatory, operated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), is located just west of the
town of Wrightwood, California at an elevation of 7500 feet.

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