Discovery of Comet Hale-Bopp
Next: July 23, 2027
Keep looking up.
The story
Where it comes from
This Story marks the night of 23 July 1995, when two Americans found the same comet within minutes of each other. Alan Hale, at home in Cloudcroft, New Mexico, and Thomas Bopp, an amateur at a star party in the Arizona desert, were both looking at the star cluster M70 in Sagittarius when they noticed a faint fuzzy patch beside it. Each reported it to the comet clearing house in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and by tradition the comet took both their names. It became the Great Comet of 1997.
How it's celebrated
There is no organised observance. Astronomy clubs and planetariums hold star parties on summer nights, and joining one is a fitting way to mark the day, since Hale-Bopp was found at one. Or simply find a dark spot away from street lights, let your eyes adjust for a quarter of an hour, and look up.
Did you know
- Hale emailed his report at 06:50 UT; Bopp had to drive home first, so his message arrived more than two hours later.
- When it was found the comet was more than seven times farther from the Sun than the Earth is, beyond the orbit of Jupiter.
- Its nucleus is about 60 kilometres across, and it stayed visible to the naked eye for 18 months in 1996 and 1997.
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