Comet Hale-Bopp in the Sky 1997

Comet Hale Bopp in the sky during its close approach to the sun it comes to its perihelion (its closes point to the sun) on 1/4/1997. the simulation is at 1 day interval. Kurdistan Planetarium.

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 time 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 the Heaven's Gate cult.

Discovered by: Alan Hale and
Thomas Bopp
Discovery date: July 23, 1995
Alternate designations: The Great Comet of 1997,
C/1995 O1
Orbital characteristics A
Epoch: 2450460.5
Aphelion distance: 370.8 AU
Perihelion distance: 0.914 AU
Semi-major axis: 186 AU
Eccentricity: 0.995086
Orbital period: 2520 - 2533 yr
Inclination: 89.4°
Last perihelion: April 1, 1997
Next perihelion: ~4385

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• NASA
• comet
• Hale
• Bopp
• hale
• bopp
• comets
• earth
• kurd
• kurdistan

[princessyoukai1234]

D: damn me and not being born until a year after >.<

[KurdstanPlanetarium]

@princessyoukai1234 dont worry princess you are young and I m sure there wil be more interesting comets to come by...lets hope they just dont poss threat to Earth when they do...

enjoy life to the full in your prime life

[Own2d]

The orbital period of this comet is 200 years, not 2500.

[KurdstanPlanetarium]

@Own2d The orbital period of this comet is 2533 years.. its a long period comet not a short ones..read the information facts i have provides here

[teethead]

ill never forget seeing it

[dekdk11]

@dekdk11 LOL i meant comet

[dekdk11]

I saw this comment, I still remember it, And I was only 2 years old! :D

[SonicGeneration]

I was alive to see this, but I didn't see it.. mostly because nobody in my family was interested.. seeing videos of Hale Bopp makes me want to cry knowing I will never see anything like this.. :(

[4Sk8tergirl]

I was born tht year dam:(

[Amber81M]

It passed on my 16th birthday. It may seem a little silly, but for me it was like the universe itself was wishing me a happy birthday. I've had several amazing things happen for me in my life, but even if I live to be 100 none will ever come close to equaling it.

[kokym8]

i was 3 years old !!! wish i was old !

[gccn]

I remember searching for this and thinking that I saw it. I was legally blind (with no correction) until 2005. Plus we have light pollution like whoa here. Seriously. It never quite gets dark because of all the street lights. :(

[Kitsuneru]

Damn. I was born that year.

[catwomanFL72]

cool video...i was 25 years old when i saw it.