Crni Vrh Observatory Images of Comet 1996 B2 Hyakutake

102K
Observer: Herman Mikuz
Location: Crni Vrh Observatory, Slovenia
Date: March 20-21, 1996 UT

New, breathtaking images of comet Hyakutake (1996 B2)

Series of images were taken on the night of 1996 Mar. 20-21 from the Crni Vrh Observatory in very good conditions. Only a fraction of this imagery is now displayed here. Of special interest are mosaic images displaying the complex ion tail structure with rays, knots and clouds of singly ionized water moleculas. The ion tail total length on 65mm f.l. images is about 20 degrees. Additional monitoring with red continuum filter shows only featureless ~5 deg broad tail.

Note, that colors on these images are false and were used in order to enhance the comet tail structure.

First Image: Wide-field mosaic image of comet Hyakutake, recorded in the light of singly-ionized water ions was taken on 1996 Mar. 20, with the 2.8/180mm lens, CCD and narrow-band H2O+ filter, centered at 620nm (FWHM=10nm). Each frame was exposed for 10 minutes, centered at 23h37UT. The image FOV (field of view) is 395'x146'. See also the dust continuum image (second image), obtained with the same lens and narrow-band filter centered at 647nm (FWHM=10nm). Exposure time was 10 minutes, starting at 22:40:31UT. The image FOV is 226'x149'.

Third image: Wide-field mosaic image of comet Hyakutake, recorded in the light of singly-ionized water ions was taken on 1996 Mar. 21, with the 3.5/65mm lens, CCD and narrow-band H2O+ filter, centered at 620nm (FWHM=10nm). Each frame was exposed for 15 minutes, centered at 2h12UT. The image FOV is 19.0x5.1deg.

Fourth image: Wide-field image of comet Hyakutake, taken on 1996 Mar. 21, with the 2.8/90mm lens, CCD and narrow-band H2O+ filter, centered at 620nm (FWHM=10nm). Exposure time was 15 minutes, starting at 3:09:46UT. The image FOV is 7.5x5.0deg. See also the the same image (fifth image), displayed as W-B negative.

Comet 1996 B2 Hyakutake Home Page