Comet Hale-Bopp with Crescent Moon and Clouds

May 8, 1997, 8:18 p.m.

I made one last trip to dark skies to photograph the comet, near Mobile, Arizona. A thin crescent moon (overexposed in this long exposure) made a beautiful companion for the comet. Below them was a band of clouds, which the moon, and then the comet, disappeared into about 9pm. After viewing Comet Hale-Bopp dozens of times over the previous 10 months, I sadly bid it farewell; I knew this would be my last good view of it.

Exposure info:
Film: Ektachrome P1600 slide
Camera: Canon AE-1
Lens: 50mm
Aperture: f/1.8
Exposure length: 30 seconds

This photograph appeared on NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day site on July 9, 1998.

Scanned by Rick Scott using a Nikon Coolscan LS-10E 35mm film scanner and Adobe Photoshop.