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The Great Hale-Bopp Comet
A Gift from the Oort Cloud

The Greatest Show of the Year 1997

All about this Great Comet of 1997

Discovered on July 23, 1995 by Alan Hale and Thomas Bopp at a distance from the sun of about 7 AU with an apparent magnitude of 10.5. It has grown in magnitude to become a candidate for the century's comet. Its diameter is estimated to be more than 40 km kilometers (After it was estimated in a moment of emotion by some astronomers to be around 1000km!) to be so bright, unless the this unusual brightness come from an outburst It is in any case the century's surprise comet. It has since remained visible to the naked eye for a record 18 months, which is twice longer than the Great Comet of 1811. Furthermore it is considered to have been the most widely observed comet of the twentieth century.
That's was enough to organize around it a whole public program, isn't it?

The Public Program of Activities

El-Khalifa Cultural Center, Constantine
September 26, 1996

Some pictures about the Crowd Pleaser Comet

This classic picture of Hale-Bopp in all its glory as obtained by Rhemann on 1997 March 27.78	HST Observation of Hale-Bopp back in 1995, few months after its discovery.
The comet from Croatia by Philipp Salzgebe in March 1997	Hale Bopp over snowy mountains Hale-Bopp in the middle of the Northern lights in Alaska

The Program with the General Public

The program of activities

The Press release. It was reprinted in many newspapers

The Sighting of the Comet in March
Many members of our association observed the comet from their neighborhoods. The security situation during these years didn't allow us to organize collective sighting nights. People who participated in our program did follow the evolution of the comet especially during March 1997.

A Special Issue of Sirius Voice about Comets
Here's the section on Hale-Bopp

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