| Title: Comet Hale-Bopp at Waterrock |
Waterrock Knob, NC, April, 1996
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| In late March of 1997, Hale – Bopp went from being a morning comet to an evening object. This photo was taken from Waterrock Knob, in western North Carolina near Maggie Valley on March 29th. The altitude of this Knob is 6,600 feet. The horizon still has some glow left over from sunset.
The night before, I arrived in North Carolina at around 8 PM and got a brief glimpse of the Comet just before a strong storm front came through. I wanted to see the Comet, which rose just before sunrise so I decided to sleep in the parking lot of the Knob. At midnight a severe thunderstorm enveloped the Knob. Wind nearly blew my wan off the mountain while lightning struck all around me. I wasn’t under the storm; I was in it!
I survived the blow and the storm had the beneficial effect of cleansing the atmosphere, which was totally clear the next night. The picture was taken with an Olympus OM2 with a 50mm F1.8 lens, piggybacked on my Celestron eight-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope. The exposure time was two minutes. The combination of the exposure time as the telescope was turning and the strong wind blowing the branches causes the trees to blur.
This image was sold to Mattel® for use with their View Master® product in conjunction with other celestrial objects as an example of a comet in 3-D.
Item Number: 1 - L |
