Who is comet Hale-Bopp named for?

(C) Paul Gitto. Arcturus Observatory, Whiting, New Jersey, March 9, 1997, 10:25 UT

This composite image shows fifteen separate images of the comet. Each exposure was 2 seconds longer that the previous one. As a result, the upper left corner shows a 2-second image of the comet while the lower right shows a 30-second image.

Comets are generally named after their discoverers. Alan Hale is a professional astronomer who lives in Cloudcroft, New Mexico. Thomas Bopp is an amateur astronomer who lives in Phoenix, Arizona. They independently discovered the comet within a few minutes of each other, back on July 22, 1995. Hale is a very active comet observer, but this is the first comet he has ever discovered. Bopp was observing at a "star party" with some other amateur astronomers when he found the comet.

The comet also has an official scientific name, C/1995 01, which means it was the first comet discovered in the first half of July 1995.

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