Comet Hale-Bopp, officially designated C/1995 O1, is one of the most spectacular and widely observed comets of the 20th century. Discovered independently by Alan Hale and Thomas Bopp on July 23, 1995—when it was still beyond Jupiter—it became visible to the naked eye for a record-breaking 18 months, far longer than most comets. At its brightest in early 1997, Hale-Bopp dazzled skywatchers with a striking double tail: one made of dust curving along the comet’s path, and another—a straight, bluish ion tail—pointing directly away from the Sun due to solar wind. The comet’s nucleus is estimated to be an unusually large 30 to 40 kilometers (18-24 miles) in diameter, and it released enormous amounts of gas and dust, making it far more active than typical comets. Hale-Bopp’s highly elliptical orbit means it won’t return to the inner solar system for another 2,500 years, around the year 4385. Its extraordinary brightness and extended visibility made it not only a celestial spectacle but also a subject of significant scientific interest and cultural fascination worldwide.

I took the images below of Comet Hale-Bopp on March 20, 1997 and on April 5, 1997 at what was then the Fort Worth Astronomical Society’s dark sky site located near Paradise in Wise County, Texas. They were obtained using a Nikon FM 35mm SLR with ISO 1000 to 1600 film. The camera was tripod mounted and I used a cable release in manual mode with an over sized lens cap. I’d cap the lens and then fire off the shutter, let any vibration die down and then gently remove the lens cap to expose the film. These exposures are all in the 30 second to one and half minute duration.

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