CHAPTER 1 |
Technical Introduction.
Comet Hale-Bopp is a rogue comet: a very definite maverick in a number of ways. Official astronomers are not giving a lot of publicity to this comet because they still have egg on their faces over the less than impressive performances of their much acclaimed comet Kohoutek, the last uninspiring visitation of Halley's comet and a later unspectacular appearance of the well publicised comet Austin.
The diameter of Hale Bopp's dust cloud at 2.5 million kilometres 1 (when originally found) was already almost twice the diameter of the sun and exceeded the 2.0 million kilometres of the 1811 comet 2 (when near the sun), and this 1811 comet was, till now, the biggest on record. This 1811 comet developed a tail of 160 million kilometres in length (a bit greater than the distance between the Earth and the Sun), while the somewhat smaller 1843 comet 2 developed a tail 330 million kilometres long, (which is considerably greater than the distance between the Sun and the planet Mars).
By contrast, the diameter of the dust cloud associated with Halley's comet as measured in 1910 AD 3 was only about 20 thousand kilometres when first detected (or less than 1% of that of Hale Bopp when first detected & very much further away). Halley’s comet swelled up to a maximum of only about 300, 000 km when nearest to the sun. (still only about 12% of Hale Bopp when very distant from the sun). We do not know how much Hale Bopp's dust cloud will expand.
Most of the short period comets in the solar system seem to have orbits fairly close to the plane of the ecliptic. The maverick Swift Tuttle comet 4 (maverick relative to gravitational theory as well) has an orbital period of about 130 years and has an orbit in a plane nearly vertical to the plane of the ecliptic (the plane in which all the known planets are found). It rises up through the plane of the ecliptic about halfway between the orbits of the planets Saturn and Uranus (about 2300 million kilometres from the sun), rises well above the plane of the ecliptic, and then passes somewhere near to directly over the sun, before dropping below the plane of the ecliptic at the Earth's orbit, and then heading away from the sun. This comet develops a tail but no "beak" (ie no ejection of debris ahead of it towards the sun). This comet is a well recognised candidate for a direct collision with earth 4 at some future time ( possibly at its next return in the year 2126 AD). It is the officially accepted origin of the Perseid swarm of meteors which rain onto the Earth from about 23 July to 20 August each and every year 5. This swarm increased considerably in numbers a year before the last appearance of the comet, a phenomena which is normal for swarms of comet linked meteors.
Hale Bopp has many similarities to the Swift Tuttle comet. Within very narrow limits, its orbit occupies a plane at right angles to the plane of the ecliptic and it had, till recently, an orbital period estimated variously to be between 3,000 - 4,200 years 6 ,7, 8, 9, 10 or say an average 3,600 years. Soon after it was first detected, its orbital period was said to have been reduced to about 2,360 years by a close approach to the planet Jupiter (Don Yeomans of Jet Propulsion Laboratory, USA), so perhaps its original orbital period cannot now ever be accurately determined. But more recently published data does not support Yeoman's assessment, and the comet's orbit seems to have been relatively little affected by Jupiter. To attempt to accurately define the orbit of a comet with an orbital period of the order of 3,600 - 4,000 years would be fraught with difficulty, on the basis of a mere one to two years of orbital observations, even if those observations were for a simple single inert body, rather than for the complex comet that we seem to have.
The 47 or so comet course revisions made to its orbital ephemeris so far indicates a little of the difficulty involved in making an accurate measurement of exactly where this particular comet has been and where it is going. The most reliable way to assess the past orbital period of any comet would be to track it through history, given that this were possible. Halley’s comet, for instance, has been successfully tracked back to about 240 BC. This present report on comet Hale Bopp attempts, with seemingly great success, to achieve that same purpose of tracking comet Hale Bopp back through recorded and unrecorded history, to its very original appearance in our solar system.
This comet rises through the plane of the ecliptic between Saturn and Jupiter (only about 1000 million kilometres from the sun compared with 2300 million kilometres for Swift Tuttle), and it skims along above the plane of the ecliptic, passing directly over the top of the sun to reach perihelion (nearest approach to the sun) about 100 million kilometres above the plane of the ecliptic and about 140 million kilometres away from the sun. It then drops through the plane of the ecliptic near the Earth's orbit, before heading away from the sun, mostly in a near vertical downwards direction for a couple of years. (Figure 1).
The axis for Hale Bopp's very elongated elliptical orbit passes upwards at approximately 45 degrees to the plane of the ecliptic (actually 40.4 degrees increasing to 40.6 degrees after its recent encounter with Jupiter).
Official estimates for the size of the solid nucleus of comet Hale- Bopp have varied from about 20 kilometres to about 200 kilometres 6 ,7, 8, 9, 10, 11 , but, in truth, these are all basically guesses, and it is virtually impossible to get an accurate measurement from official sources, or even to determine from those sources if it has only one nucleus. For a comet to have such a huge dust cloud when it is so far out from the sun suggests that it has either a very large or a very dense nucleus, but this is by no means certain. There have been some suggestions that the specific gravity of the nucleus is atypically high, but again it is difficult to get firm information.
Two experienced amateur astronomers Chuck Shramek and Gary Goodwin 12 , 13 in particular have cited information highly suggestive of an official coverup on information on this subject. Since May 1996, quality photographs of Hale Bopp have ceased to be issued by official sources. The Hubble space telescope was also suddenly taken out of service for repairs at a crucial time, and incorrect information was issued to amateur astronomers with respect to where observations of a star occultation by Hale Bopp could be made. Observations during the occultation should have provided a direct measurement of the size of the nucleus of Hale Bopp. Five out of six official astronomers reported cloud cover during the occultation, when the weather bureau is said to have reported clear skies for those same viewing locations and the sixth obtained "unreliable" results. Radar techniques used successfully to measure the size of the nucleus of the much smaller comet Hyatake have surprisingly not been used on this much larger cousin, or, if they have been, official sources refuse to acknowledge it.
Of particular interest are a number of photographs of the comet given on the internet, including the last published from the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) before something approaching a blanket ban on the release of all photographs from large telescopes seems to have been imposed. Recently published photographs of the comet are typically of surprisingly poor quality, and from none of the big name telescopes with the exception of a very disappointing single photograph from the HST.
Photograph HST WFPC2 Wide Field of 26/9/1995 shows only the coma or central nucleus of the comet. It was taken when Hale Bopp was over 900 million kilometres (6 AU) from the sun, at a time when the sun could have had little gravitational or radiant heating effect upon the comet. It has two bright spots and a pinwheel appearance for which three different explanations have been offered.
Bear in mind that the overall accompanying cometary dust cloud was about 2.5 million kilometres in diameter when this photograph was taken.
A photograph taken by an 0.5 m telescope in Japan in April 1996 and subsequently removed 6 months later after controversy arose about Hale Bopp being at least two major bodies, is given on Chuck Shramek’s web site. It clearly shows two major bodies tracking across the background star field.
Soon after this photograph was taken, there was an apparent clamp-down on publication of all photographs of Hale Bopp from the large telescopes.
A photograph was taken by the Tiede Observatory in the Canary islands on July 16, 1996, using an 0.5 m telescope and it was subsequently published on the internet. It is referred to by Shramek 12 and Goodwin 13 on their web sites. An optical device was used to blank out the bright nucleus to give a better picture of the six associated jets of emitted debris. According to the scale given, an area with a diameter of about 34 000 kilometres was blanked out, a size not inconsistent with Goodwin’s estimated diameter of the comet nucleus.
Accompanying the nucleus, and about 150,000 kilometres out from the nucleus is a dark object, about 30,000 kilometres in diameter (ie about the size of planet Neptune). This object is clearly associated with the motion of the comet, since otherwise it would be blurred in the same manner as the surrounding star field. As pointed out by Shramek, jets from the nucleus appear to be attracted to and to curve round this object (?), implying that it has a significant electromagnetic field . It is much too far out to relate easily to the second "body" inferred by Shramek from Photo 1.
A series of 4 photographs were taken by three amateur astronomers in New Mexico with a 16 inch telescope in late July 16, 1996 and subsequently published on the internet. These are referred to by Shramek 12 and Goodwin 13 on their web sites. These pictures show the appearance and subsequent disappearance of a body roughly equal to the comet nucleus (over a period of less than an hour ). The distance between the two objects was estimated to be several hundred thousand kilometres. The second object was pacing the nucleus against the background star field, so it could not be a star. Its rapid appearance / disappearance seems to be beyond what could be expected from orbital motion, but may be related to a momentary clear window in the surrounding dust cloud.
This consists of two pictures taken by a professional astronomer in August 1996, both showing comet Hale Bopp and a large "companion" moving together across the background star field 13. The professional astronomer does not want to be named so as to avoid the treatment meted out to Chuck Shramek when he publicised a picture taken November 14 1996.
Photograph HST WFPC2 of 23/9/1996 by the Hubble Space Telescope has a very much lower magnification than the one taken 26/9/1996. A tiny coma occupies the central part of the picture and it is generally poorer than many obtained with quite small telescopes.
This consists of a single composite photograph taken by Chuck Shramek 12 in November 14 1996. Chuck Shramek, with a good 10 inch telescope, good technique, and good computer hookup, obtained a series of 161 photographs of Hale Bopp one evening, with exposures from one to five seconds, using a green filter. These photographs appear to clearly demonstrate that the dust cloud of Halley Bopp has a nearby companion that is very large and very bright, (about ten to twenty times as bright as the nucleus of Hale Bopp). Furthermore, it appears to have a large halo like Saturn. The official establishment has tried desperately to discredit this photograph, but instead seem to have brought discredit upon themselves, as their various "explanations" of why the picture was "unreal" were in turn clearly discredited by others.
Photo Summary
The available information from the above photographs strongly suggests that the nucleus of comet Hale Bopp is large (possibly the size of the planet Neptune). It appears to be accompanied by another body of similar size, and the interactions between these two bodies and possibly other smaller ones, probably account for the apparent numerous course changes reported for the comet. It becomes a moot point as to whether the comet is orbiting its companion, or vice versa. The combined orbital activities of the two bodies, plus the associated dust cloud, quite possibly account for the intermittent visibility of the observed companion.
This comet has been reported by professional astronomers on the internet to have developed both two tails pointing away from the sun (normal), and six large jets, one of which is heading directly towards the sun, well ahead of the comet's nucleus. It has not yet a meteor swarm officially associated with it, probably because of its very long orbital period, but when it has (probably just before and certainly just after the more spectacular part of this current appearance), that swarm should appear during January. It is quite possible that the Quadrantids meteor shower (1-6 January), with a radiant in Bootes, is associated with this comet. The Quadrantids were particularly active in January 1997. A spectacular meteor display in January 1998 is certain to result from comet Hale Bopp.
The comet Hale Bopp is showing evidence of having an intense electromagnetic field, sufficient to emit radio signals. This implies a large highly charged body. There are indications 13 that it contains metallic iron as well as silicates and a variety of other often highly toxic materials.
Already identified in the comet are:
At 26 February, 1997, estimates of the length of the tail 14 vary from 12 million kilometres to 48 million kilometres, depending upon viewing conditions. It is expected to grow much larger as the comet approaches perihelion on April 1, 1997. Hale Bopp clearly now has two different types of cometary tails; a diffuse and curved, reddish dust tail and a straight bluish ion tail. The first consists of small dust particles left behind in the comet’s path and shining by reflected light. The second consists mostly of charged atoms and molecules which are forced away from the comet’s coma by the solar wind.