In July 1995, two Americans, Alan Hale and Thomas Bopp, discovered what was named Comet Hale-Bopp. The great comet continued to be visible to the naked eye for over a year. In the Spring of 1997, it grew brighter than 0 magnitude and its beautiful shape with two extended tails could be observed from Japan as well.

The dome in this picture is the Okayama Astrophysical Observatory dome for the 188cm diameter reflector telescope. On this night, the 188cm reflector telescope also observed Comet Hale-Bopp.

A Note about Comet Ison

Comet Ison was expected to grow bright, but instead it disintegrated while it was approaching the Sun at the end of November 2013. After that, naked eye viewing became impossible. But astronomers are continuing observations and research to see if they can catch a picture of the remnants to understand how and why Comet Ison disintegrated and to gain new insight into comets from the phenomenon of comet nucleus disintegration.

(Author: Hiroyuki Toda)