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Charlie Fredrickson
Comet Hyakutake - 12 Years Ago This Month (March)
WOW! It has been a dozen years since the brilliant Comet Hyakutake blazed across our northern skies! At the time, it was the brightest comet in over 20 years, and created a media frenzy. ASPB responded with the "Comet Hotline," several live TV and radio interviews, and four observing sessions, all well attended. In dark skies, Hyakutake's tail was over 45 degrees in length as it passed closely by the Big Dipper and then Polaris on its close pass (only .1 AU!) from earth.
I captured this image of the comet at the close of our last observing session for the comet, I believe on the night of March 25th, 1996. On this night, its head was only a few degrees from Polaris. The photo was taken with a 50mm lens at f/2 on a manual SLR on tripod; exposure time aboout 1 minute using high speed color film. The image simply can't capture the wonder of this most excellent comet!
Charlie
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