Hyakutake Comet using a red filter.
This is the first Hyakutake comet CCD image obtained at the Pico dos Dias Observatory
06:33 UT Feb. 22, 1996. This image is shown with false colors to enhance the details.
Observer: Rodrigo P. Campos
Telescope: 0.6-m Boller & Chivens
Detector: GEC P8603 578 x 385 pixels
Exposure time: 5 min
Filter: R (red)
In order to obtain this digital image of the comet Hyakutake, Rodrigo used
the CCD camera 009 at the 0.6-m B&C telescope. This comet was discovered by the
Japanese amateur astronomer Yuji Hyakutake, by means of a 25x130 binoculars on January 30.
Brian Marsden, of Harvard, estimates that the comet will reach perihelion on May 2, when
it will be 33 million kilometers far from the Sun, a distance equivalent to almost half
the mean orbital radius of Mercury, the innermost of the planets. Besides getting close to
the Sun, it will also get very close to the Earth, on March 26, when it will be at about
16.5 million kilometers. During these periods, one expects to see a much brighter comet
than Halley was in its last appearance. For Brazilian observers, the most favorable period
is between March 18 and March 24, when the brightness rises even though the comet will be
heading North.
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Last updated: March 30, 1996