Good cameras [ http://www.chimacum…] were able to obtain impressive photographs of Comet Hale-Bopp [ http://galileo.ivv.…] when at its brightest earlier this year. In the above photograph [ http://galileo.ivv.…] taken April 5th, Comet Hale-Bopp was imaged from the Indian Cove Campground in the Joshua Tree National Forest [ http://www.nps.gov/…] in California, USA. A flashlight was used to momentarily illuminate foreground rocks in this 30 second exposure. Comet Hale-Bopp is still visible [ http://www.eso.org/…] to the unaided eye in Earth's Southern Hemisphere [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…], with observers there reporting it to be about 4th magnitude [ http://liftoff.msfc…]. The comet is now passing nearly in front of the star Sirius [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…], and shows only a slight dust tail [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…].
