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Siding Spring Observatory Image of Comet 1996 B2 Hyakutake

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Observers: Michael Brown, Chris Fluke
Location: Siding Spring Observatory, Australia
Date: February 24, 1996 18:29 UT

Colour images of C/1996 B2 (Hyakutake)

A colour image of C/1996 B2 (Hyakutake) taken by Michael Brown (University of Melbourne) and Chris Fluke(University of Melbourne) using the 40 inch telescope at Siding Spring. The image was taken on the morning of Sunday 25 Feb 1996 (UT 24.77 Feb 96) after a night imaging for slow moving objects (comets/asteroids) beyond 20 AU. The ion tail is clearly visible, stretching towards the top left of the image. The turn-on of the ion tail (this is the technical term for this event) occured only one week previously, see ESO (Comet Hyakutake Develops Two Tails) for details of this event. The image is 28 arcmin X 17 arcmin and is a combination of a 60 second R band exposure, an 80 second V band exposure and a 100 second B band exposure. The magnitudes of the comet are approximately R=7.6 and B=7.5. If you want more details about this image please email Michael Brown (mbrown@physics.unimelb.edu.au). The 60 second R band image showing detail in the tail is available.
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