AMOS Image of Comet Hale-Bopp

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Observers: John Africano (AMOS), Eleanor Helin (JPL), Daron Nishimoto (AMOS) & others
Location: Air Force Maui Optical Station, Hawaii
Date: July 27, 1995 - 10:00 UT

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AMOS 1.2 meter photo caption

This image of Comet Hale-Bopp, designated 1995 O1, was taken with the 1.2-meter telescope at the Phillips Laboratory Air Force Maui Optical Station (AMOS) in a collaborative effort between AMOS and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), which furnished the solid-state image sensor and processed the image. The comet was discovered July 23 by amateur astronomers Alan Hale, Cloudcroft, N.M., and Thomas Bopp, Stanfield, Ariz. It is well beyond the orbit of Jupiter and has begun to develop a tail.

The image was acquired on July 27, 1995 beginning at 10:00 Universal Time (3:00 a.m. PDT). It shows, in the center of the star field, three time-lapsed images of the comet. The first, false-colored red for identification, is at the left. The second, slightly to the right and falsed-colored green, was taken 18 minutes later. The third, to the right and falsed-colored blue, was taken 51 minutes after the first. Each image is a 10 second exposure.

The JPL/AMOS asteroid observing team that acquired and processed this image included John Africano, Paul Kervin, Paul Sydney, Daron Nishimoto and Rob Medrano of AMOS, and Eleanor Helin, Ken Lawrence, John Trauger and Ray Bambery of JPL.

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