Mouse over the above thumbnail to see the orientation of the scene with the western horizon shown horizontal.

Comet C/1995 O1, co-discovered and thus named for Alan Hale and Thomas Bopp, both from the southwestern United States, put on a fantastic show in early 1997.  This picture was taken at about the height of the comet's brightness as it was easily visible low in the northwest after darkness.  In this scene, it is framed by Cassiopeia to its right (upper right in the picture), the Double Cluster above it, and the other stars of Perseus to its upper left.  The horizon was at lower right, parallel to a diagonal line making a tri-angle with that corner of the frame.  Note how distinct the blue ion gas tail is from the curved dust tail!  This was a defining feature of Comet Hale-Bopp.  Unannotated image.