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Observer: Dewey Vanderhoff
Location: Cody, Wyoming
Date: April 27, 1997
"Frontier Comet". This actually isn't a comet photo so much as it is a forensic cloud study. Sunday night April 27 I happened to view a very bizarre tubular cloud appearing over Cody Wyoming from the mountains to the west. It seemed to be driven by forces other than wind or air currents ; more like some cosmic superstring or Star Trek vortex than a mere water cloud.
When it moved enough to reveal Hale-Bopp, I decided it was worth a photo , and relocated in three minutes to the heroic statue of my town's founder, Buffalo Bill Cody. By then the atmospheric light had gone off the weird cloud ( regrettably), but I got a few frames of Mr. Bill with Mr. Bopp. The famous frontiersman seems to be watching the comet as if it were a horsefly about to have lunch on his horse's hind quarters.
This is a "change of pace " photo of our beloved comet , I suppose...
Dewey Vanderhoff
deweyv@trib.com
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