Comet Hale–Bopp: Difference between revisions
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Bopp did not own a [[telescope]]. He was out with friends near [[Stanfield, Arizona]] observing star clusters and [[galaxy|galaxies]] when he chanced across the comet while at the eyepiece of his friend's telescope. He realized he might have spotted something new when, like Hale, he checked his star maps to determine if any other deep-sky objects were known to be near M70, and found that there were none. He telegraphed the Central Bureau of Astronomical Telegrams, and, the following morning, it was confirmed that this was a new comet, and it was named Comet Hale-Bopp, with the designation C/1995 O1. The discovery was announced in [[International Astronomical Union]] circular 6187. |
Bopp did not own a [[telescope]]. He was out with friends near [[Stanfield, Arizona]] observing star clusters and [[galaxy|galaxies]] when he chanced across the comet while at the eyepiece of his friend's telescope. He realized he might have spotted something new when, like Hale, he checked his star maps to determine if any other deep-sky objects were known to be near M70, and found that there were none. He telegraphed the Central Bureau of Astronomical Telegrams, and, the following morning, it was confirmed that this was a new comet, and it was named Comet Hale-Bopp, with the designation C/1995 O1. The discovery was announced in [[International Astronomical Union]] circular 6187. |
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<ref>{{cite journal | title = Amateur Contributions in the study of Comet Hale-Bopp | journal = Earth, Moon, and Planets | volume 79 | issue = 1–3 | year = 1997 | doi = 10.1023/A:1006262006364 pages = 307–308 |
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== Perihelion == |
== Perihelion == |
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Revision as of 17:13, 14 October 2008
 | |
| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | Alan Hale and Thomas Bopp |
| Discovery date | 23 July 1995 |
| Designations | |
| The Great Comet of 1997, C/1995 O1 | |
| Orbital characteristics | |
| Epoch | 2450460.5 |
| Aphelion | 371 AU |
| Perihelion | 0.91 AU |
| Semi-major axis | 186 AU |
| Eccentricity | 0.995086 |
| Orbital period | 2537 a |
| Inclination | 89.4° |
| Last perihelion | April 1, 1997 |
| Next perihelion | 4380 |
Comet Hale-Bopp (formally designated C/1995 O1) was arguably the most widely observed comet of the twentieth century, and one of the brightest seen for many decades. It was visible to the naked eye for a record 18 months, twice as long as the previous record holder, the Great Comet of 1811.
Hale-Bopp was discovered on July 23, 1995 at a great distance from the Sun, raising expectations that the comet would brighten considerably by the tiem it passed close to Earth. Although predicting the brightness of comets with any degree of accuracy is very difficult, Hale-Bopp met or exceeded most predictions when it passed perihelion on April 1, 1997. The comet was dubbed the Great Comet of 1997.
The passage of Hale-Bopp was notable also for inciting a degree of comet-related panic not seen for decades. Rumours that an alien spacecraft was following the comet gained remarkable currency, and inspired a mass suicide among followers of a cult named Heaven's Gate.
Discovery
The comet was discovered by two independent observers, Alan Hale and Thomas Bopp, both in the United States.[1] Hale had spent many hundreds of hours searching for comets without success, and was tracking known comets from his driveway in New Mexico when he chanced upon Hale-Bopp just after midnight. The comet had an apparent magnitude of 10.5 and lay near the globular cluster M70 in the constellation of Sagittarius. Hale first established that there was no other deep-sky object near M70, and then consulted a directory of known comets, finding that none were known to be in this area of the sky. Once he had established that the object was moving relative to the background stars, he emailed the Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams, the clearing house for astronomical discoveries.
Bopp did not own a telescope. He was out with friends near Stanfield, Arizona observing star clusters and galaxies when he chanced across the comet while at the eyepiece of his friend's telescope. He realized he might have spotted something new when, like Hale, he checked his star maps to determine if any other deep-sky objects were known to be near M70, and found that there were none. He telegraphed the Central Bureau of Astronomical Telegrams, and, the following morning, it was confirmed that this was a new comet, and it was named Comet Hale-Bopp, with the designation C/1995 O1. The discovery was announced in International Astronomical Union circular 6187.
Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page). a distance which would have rendered many lesser comets totally invisible, Hale-Bopp still spanned half the sky with its two tails, although the longest reaches of the tails were too faint to be visible to the naked eye.
After perihelion
After its perihelion passage, the comet moved into the southern celestial hemisphere, and its show was over as far as most of the public of the northern hemisphere were concerned. The comet was much less impressive to southern hemisphere observers than it had been in the northern hemisphere, but southerners were able to see the comet gradually fade from view during the second half of 1997. The last naked-eye observations were reported in December 1997, which meant that the comet had remained visible without aid for 569 days, or about 18 and a half months. The previous record had been set by the Great Comet of 1811, which was visible to the naked eye for about 9 months.
The comet continued to fade as it receded, but is still being tracked by astronomers. As of January 2005, the comet is further from the Sun than Uranus, at a distance from Earth of about 21 AU, but is still observable with large telescopes. Recent observations have found that it still displays a distinct tail.
Astronomers expect that the comet will remain observable with large telescopes until perhaps 2020, by which time it will be nearing 30th magnitude. By this time it will become very difficult to distinguish the comet from the large numbers of distant galaxies of similar brightness.
Orbital changes
The comet probably made its last perihelion 4,200 years ago. Its orbit is almost perpendicular to the plane of the ecliptic, which ensures that close approaches to planets are rare. However, in March 1996 the comet passed within 0.77 AU of Jupiter, close enough for its orbit to be affected by the planet's gravity. The comet's orbit was shortened considerably to a period of 2,380 years, and it will next return to the inner solar system around the year 4377. Its greatest distance from the sun (aphelion) will be about 360 AU, reduced from about 525 AU.
Scientific results
Comet Hale-Bopp was observed intensively by astronomers during its perihelion passage, and several important advances in cometary science resulted from these observations.
One of the most remarkable discoveries was that the comet had a third type of tail. In addition to the well-known gas and dust tails, Hale-Bopp also exhibited a faint sodium tail, only visible with powerful instruments with dedicated filters. Sodium emission had been previously observed in other comets, but had not been shown to come from a tail. Hale-Bopp's sodium tail consisted of neutral atoms, and extended to some 50 million kilometres in length.
The source of the sodium appeared to be the inner coma, although not necessarily the nucleus. There are several possible mechanisms for generating a source of sodium atoms, including collisions between dust grains surrounding the nucleus, and 'sputtering' of sodium from dust grains by ultraviolet light. It is not yet established which mechanism is primarily responsible for creating Hale-Bopp's sodium tail.
While the comet's dust tail roughly followed the path of the comet's orbit and the gas tail pointed almost directly away from the Sun, the sodium tail appeared to lie between the two. This implies that the sodium atoms are driven away from the comet's head by radiation pressure.
Deuterium abundance
The abundance of deuterium in Comet Hale-Bopp in the form of heavy water was found to be about twice that of Earth's oceans. This implies that, although cometary impacts are thought to be the source of a significant amount of the water on Earth, they cannot be the only source if Hale-Bopp's deuterium abundance is typical of all comets.
The presence of deuterium in many other hydrogen compounds was also detected in the comet. The ratio of deuterium to normal hydrogen was found to vary from compound to compound, which astronomers believe suggests that cometary ices were formed in interstellar clouds, rather than in the solar nebula. Theoretical modelling of ice formation in interstellar clouds suggests that Comet Hale-Bopp formed at temperatures of around 25–45 kelvin.
Organic species
Spectroscopic observations of Hale-Bopp revealed the presence of many organic chemicals, several of which had never been detected in comets before. These complex molecules may exist within the cometary nucleus, or might be synthesised by reactions in the comet.
Rotation
Comet Hale-Bopp's activity and outgassing were not spread uniformly over its nucleus, but instead came from several specific jets. Observations of the material streaming away from these jets,[2] allowed astronomers to measure the rotation period of the comet, which was found to be about 11 hours 46 minutes. Superimposed on this rotation were several periodic variations over several days, implying that the comet was rotating about more than one axis.
A satellite dispute
In 1999, a paper was published that hypothesised the existence of a binary nucleus to fully explain the observed pattern of Comet Hale-Bopp's dust emission. The paper was based on theoretical analysis, and did not claim an observational detection of the proposed satellite nucleus, but estimated that it would have a diameter of about 30 km, with the main nucleus being about 70 km across, and would orbit in about three days at a distance of about 180 km.
The findings of this paper were disputed by observational astronomers, as even with the Hubble Space Telescope images of the comet revealed no trace of a double nucleus. Also, while comets have been observed to break up before, no case has previously been found of a stable binary nucleus. Given the very small mass of cometary nuclei, the orbit of a binary nucleus would be easily disrupted by the gravity of the Sun and planets.
Observations using adaptive optics in late 1997 and early 1998 were claimed to show a double peak in the brightness of the nucleus. However, controversy still exists over whether such observations can only be explained by a binary nucleus.
Pseudoscience
In many cultures, comets have historically been regarded as bad omens and viewed with great suspicion. Perhaps because of the very long build-up to Hale-Bopp's passage, its rare size and activity, and millenarianism linked to worries over the upcoming Y2K, the comet became the subject of many bizarre beliefs and theories.
In November 1996, amateur astronomer Chuck Shramek of Houston, Texas took a CCD image of the comet, which showed a fuzzy, slightly elongated object nearby. When his computer sky-viewing program did not identify the star, Shramek called the Art Bell radio program to announce that he had discovered a "Saturn-like object" following Hale-Bopp. UFO enthusiasts, such as remote viewing proponent Courtney Brown, soon concluded that there was an alien spacecraft following the comet. Some professionals in the astronomy community claimed the object was simply an 8.5-magnitude star, SAO141894, which did not appear on Shramek's computer program because the user preferences were set incorrectly. There was indeed a star thereabouts, but nothing of the magnitude of the object, as seen in one frame of Chuck's photos of the comet Hale-Bopp[citation needed]. Additionally, they claimed the "spires" of light which seem to extend from the object at a 45 degree angle were "diffractions" of light, and offered a few images of stars showing a similar effect (though the image provided had four spires of diffracted light, not two)[citation needed].
Later, Art Bell even claimed to have obtained an image of the object from an anonymous astrophysicist who was about to confirm its discovery. However, astronomers Olivier Hainaut and David J. Tholen of the University of Hawaii stated that the alleged photo was an altered copy of one of their own comet images.[3]
A few months later, in March 1997, the cult group Heaven's Gate chose the appearance of the comet as a signal for their mass cult suicide. They claimed they were leaving their earthly bodies to travel to the spaceship following the comet.
Legacy
Its lengthy period of visibility and extensive coverage in the media meant that Hale-Bopp was probably the most-observed comet in history, making a far greater impact on the general public than the return of Halley's Comet in 1986, and certainly seen by a greater number of people than witnessed any of Halley's previous appearances. It was a record-breaking comet — discovered the furthest from the Sun, with the largest cometary nucleus known, and it was visible to the naked eye for twice as long as the previous record-holder. It was also brighter than magnitude 0 for eight weeks, longer than any other comet in the last thousand years.
Footnotes
- ^ Shanklin, J. D. Journal of the British Astronomical Association. 110 (6): 311 http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu//full/2000JBAA..110..311S/0000311.000.html.
{{cite journal}}: Missing or empty|title=(help); Text "title: The comets of 1995" ignored (help) - ^ "Bergeron Comet Hale-Bopp Animation". Stardust. Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA. Retrieved 2008-10-14.
- ^ "Fraudulent use of a IfA/UH picture". European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere. January 15, 1997. Retrieved 2008-10-14.
References
- Cremonese G., Boehnhardt H., Crovisier J. et al, Neutral Sodium from Comet Hale-Bopp: A Third Type of Tail, Astrophysical Journal Letters, v. 490, p. L199
- Hale, A., & Bopp, T. 1995, IAU Circular, 6187
- Marchis F., Boehnhardt H., Hainaut O.R., Le Mignant D. (1999), PIMP Adaptive optics observations of the innermost coma of C/1995 O1. Are there a "Hale" and a "Bopp" in comet Hale-Bopp?, Astronomy and Astrophysics, v.349, p.985
- Newcott, William R. (Dec. 1997). "The age of comets". National Geographic,p. 100.
- Rodgers S.D., Charnley S.B. (2001), Organic synthesis in the coma of Comet Hale-Bopp?, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, v. 320, p. L61-L64.
- Sekanina Z. (1999), Detection of a Satellite Orbiting The Nucleus of Comet Hale-Bopp (C/1995 O1), Earth, Moon, and Planets, v.77, p.155
- Warell J., Lagerkvist C.-I., Lagerros J.S.V. (1999), Dust continuum imaging of C/1995 O1 (Hale-Bopp):. Rotation period and dust outflow velocity, Astronomy and Astrophysics Supplement, v.136, p.245
- Yeomans, Don. (1997) Orbit and Ephemeris Information for Comet Hale-Bopp (1995 O1). Retrieved February 24, 2005.
External links
- Cometography.com: Comet Hale-Bopp
- NASA Hale-Bopp page
- Hale-Bopp at the JPL Small-Body Database
- Shadow and Substance.com: Static orbital diagram
- Comet Nucleus Animation
