Stellar Appearance
NASA
http://encke.jpl.nasa.gov/
Recent News and Observations
17
Sept 1995
- On the second night, there was a stellar nucleus (m2~13.0 at 156x) that wasn't there the first
night. This indicates the being of another outburst of dust.
C/1995 O1 (Hale-Bopp)
31 Aug 1995
- The bright stellar nucleus is gone. Now there is a broad diffuse condensation that appears
nearly stellar in lower powers.
C/1995 O1 (Hale-Bopp)
28 Aug 1995
- The coma is dominated by an intense stellar condensation or nucleus (hence, the high DC
values).
- John Bortle, Stormville, New York, provides the following comments: Be advised that the
massive photometric outburst which occurred earlier this week seems to have permanently altered the
general appearance of Comet Hale-Bopp. The object now consists of an extremely faint, diffuse coma
(essentially DC=0) which is somewhat elongated N-S. Offset south of the coma's center is an intense, not-
quite-stellar nucleus which totally dominates the object.
- Aug. 25.07UT Nucleus totally dominates coma. At 70x it is 11.5
magnitude and resembles a slightly soft star with a little bit of surrounding haze.
