Photos of Comet Hale-Bopp
Does everyone remember Comet Hale-Bopp? It visited Earth during 1997 and was visible for weeks at a time. I shot some photographs of the comet one evening from near our home in northeast Tennessee. Here are four photos of Hale-Bopp.
My camera is a Canon EOS-630. I used a 35 - 135mm f3.5 zoom and an 80 -
200mm f3.5 - 4.5 zoom. Film was Fuji 800 ASA.
Exposures varied from .5 second to 30 seconds.
Camera was tripod mounted. Sorry, I cannot find my notes so I am not able to
indicate the exposure data on the photographs below.
Note the red streak running diagonally across the
upper right quadrant. That streak was left by the navigation lights on an aircraft
that flew across the sky while I was photographing the comet. The shutter was open
for several seconds, thus, the red light on the aircraft left the red line on the
film. The comet is at the center of the picture with its tail pointing away from the
trees.
This photo was taken with a shorter exposure than the
one above, thereby making the sky darker and letting the comet stand out more.
This is a long exposure ( 30 or more
seconds ) taken at 200 mm, f4.5. Note the star trails and the elongated head of the
comet as the stars and the comet moved during the exposure.
This photo is similar to the one above but was taken
with a shorter exposure, making the star trails and the elongation of the comet less
pronounced.
I have another 15 or so photos of Comet Hale-Bopp but these are the
best. Thanks for taking the time to look at my Hale-Bopp pictures. I am an
amateur photographer and this was my first attempt at this type of photography.