© Andy Roberts 1997. Pictured comet is C/1995 O1 Hale-Bopp.

Comet C/1995 O1 (Hale-Bopp) passes perihelion

Dominic Ford, Editor
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Comet C/1995 O1 (Hale-Bopp) will make its closest approach to the Sun on 30 March, at a distance of 0.89 AU.

From Ashburn on the day of perihelion it will be visible in both the dusk and dawn skies. In the evening, it will become visible at around 18:55 (EDT), 28° above your north-western horizon, as dusk fades to darkness. It will then sink towards the horizon, setting 4 hours and 14 minutes after the Sun at 22:47 (EDT). In the morning, it will rise at 03:44 – 2 hours and 12 minutes before the Sun – and reach an altitude of 11° above the north-eastern horizon before fading from view as dawn breaks at around 05:33.

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The events that comprise the 1997 apparition of C/1995 O1 (Hale-Bopp) are as follows:

Date Event
21 Mar 1997Comet C/1995 O1 (Hale-Bopp) passes perigee
25 Mar 1997Comet C/1995 O1 (Hale-Bopp) reaches peak brightness
30 Mar 1997Comet C/1995 O1 (Hale-Bopp) passes perihelion

The table below lists the times when C/1995 O1 (Hale-Bopp) will be visible from Ashburn day-by-day through its apparition:

Date Constellation Comet visibility
09 Mar 1997LacertaVisible from 18:28 until 18:55
03:37 until 06:13
Highest at 06:13, 33° above NE horizon
11 Mar 1997LacertaVisible from 18:30 until 19:09
03:38 until 06:10
Highest at 06:10, 31° above NE horizon
13 Mar 1997LacertaVisible from 18:32 until 19:25
03:40 until 06:07
Highest at 06:07, 30° above NE horizon
15 Mar 1997AndromedaVisible from 18:34 until 19:41
03:43 until 06:03
Highest at 06:03, 28° above NE horizon
17 Mar 1997AndromedaVisible from 18:36 until 19:57
03:48 until 06:00
Highest at 06:00, 27° above NE horizon
19 Mar 1997AndromedaVisible from 18:38 until 20:13
03:55 until 05:57
Highest at 05:57, 25° above NE horizon
21 Mar 1997AndromedaVisible from 18:40 until 20:29
04:04 until 05:54
Highest at 05:54, 23° above NE horizon
23 Mar 1997AndromedaVisible from 18:42 until 20:43
04:14 until 05:51
Highest at 18:42, 24° above NW horizon
25 Mar 1997AndromedaVisible from 18:44 until 20:56
04:26 until 05:48
Highest at 18:44, 26° above NW horizon
27 Mar 1997AndromedaVisible from 18:46 until 21:07
04:40 until 05:44
Highest at 18:46, 27° above NW horizon
29 Mar 1997AndromedaVisible from 18:48 until 21:16
04:54 until 05:41
Highest at 18:48, 29° above NW horizon
31 Mar 1997AndromedaVisible from 18:50 until 21:23
05:09 until 05:38
Highest at 18:50, 30° above NW horizon
02 Apr 1997AndromedaVisible from 18:52 until 21:29
05:24 until 05:35
Highest at 18:52, 31° above NW horizon
04 Apr 1997AndromedaVisible from 18:54 until 21:32
Highest at 18:54, 32° above NW horizon
06 Apr 1997AndromedaVisible from 19:56 until 22:34
Highest at 19:56, 32° above NW horizon
08 Apr 1997PerseusVisible from 19:58 until 22:35
Highest at 19:58, 32° above NW horizon
10 Apr 1997PerseusVisible from 20:00 until 22:34
Highest at 20:00, 33° above NW horizon
12 Apr 1997PerseusVisible from 20:02 until 22:33
Highest at 20:02, 32° above NW horizon
14 Apr 1997PerseusVisible from 20:04 until 22:31
Highest at 20:04, 32° above W horizon
16 Apr 1997PerseusVisible from 20:06 until 22:28
Highest at 20:06, 32° above W horizon
18 Apr 1997PerseusVisible from 20:08 until 22:24
Highest at 20:08, 31° above W horizon

A more detailed table of C/1995 O1 (Hale-Bopp)'s position on each night is available here. A diagram of the orbit of C/1995 O1 (Hale-Bopp) is available here.

Finder chart

The chart below shows the path of C/1995 O1 (Hale-Bopp) over the course of its apparition, as calculated from the orbital elements published by the Minor Planet Center (MPC). It is available for download, either on dark background, in PNG, PDF or SVG formats, or on a light background, in PNG, PDF or SVG formats. It was produced using StarCharter.

Comet brightnesses

Comets are intrinsically highly unpredictable objects, since their brightness depends on the scattering of sunlight from dust particles in the comet's coma and tail. This dust is continually streaming away from the comet's nucleus, and its density at any particular time is governed by the rate of sublimation of the ice in the comet's nucleus, as it is heated by the Sun's rays. It also depends on the amount of dust that is mixed in with that ice. This is very difficult to predict in advance, and can be highly variable even between successive apparitions of the same comet.

In consequence, while the future positions of comets are usually known with a high degree of confidence, their future brightnesses are not. For most comets, we do not publish any magnitude estimates at all. For the few comets where we do make estimates, we generally prefer the BAA's magnitude parameters to those published by the Minor Planet Center, since they are typically updated more often.

No estimate for the brightness of comet C/1995 O1 (Hale-Bopp) is currently available.

The comet's position at perihelion will be:

Object Right Ascension Declination Constellation Magnitude
Comet C/1995 O1 (Hale-Bopp) 01h38m30s 43°50'N Andromeda -0.4

The coordinates are given in J2000.0.

The sky on 28 Mar 2024

The sky on 28 March 2024
Sunrise
06:58
Sunset
19:29
Twilight ends
21:00
Twilight begins
05:27

18-day old moon
Waning Gibbous

88%

18 days old

Planets
Rise Culm. Set
Mercury 07:29 14:14 20:59
Venus 06:24 12:10 17:56
Moon 22:00 03:15 08:23
Mars 05:43 11:09 16:35
Jupiter 08:42 15:39 22:36
Saturn 06:07 11:43 17:19
All times shown in EDT.

Source

This event was automatically generated on the basis of orbital elements published by the Minor Planet Center (MPC) , and is updated whenever new elements become available. It was last updated on 23 Mar 2024.

Image credit

© Andy Roberts 1997. Pictured comet is C/1995 O1 Hale-Bopp.

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77.49°W
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