Colour Images of Comet Hyakutake (March 28)

A series of excellent colour images of Comet Hyakutake was obtained by Juergen Wirth of the Institut fuer Geophysik und Meteorologie of the Cologne University (e-mail: jw@meteo.Uni-Koeln.DE) during the night between March 27 and 28. They were made on a platform on top of the `Gaensehals' (elevation 577 metres) in the Eifel-mountains (Germany).

A Pentax SMC Takumar was mounted on top of a small, transportable telescope (f = 910/15) with manual guiding. The seeing conditions were very good and the air was clear and dry, but moonlight (near first quarter) interfered. As film was used Kodak Ektachrome Panther P1600 Push 1 (3200 ASA); the prints were digitized by a scanner.

The first picture [GIF,128k] shows the head and parts of the tail. Epoch: 1996-03-28, 00:57 UT. Lens: 50 mm/1.7. Field: 18 deg x 12.5 deg. Exposure: 120 s.

The second picture [GIF,128k] shows only the head of the comet. Epoch: 1996-03-27, 23:17 UT. Lens: 500 mm/4.5. Field: 2 deg x 1.3 deg. Exposure: 60 s.

The third picture [GIF,120k] shows only the head of the comet. Epoch: 1996-03-27, 23:36 UT. Lens: 500 mm/4.5. Field: 2 deg x 1.3 deg. Exposure: 120 s.

These photos may be reproduced, if credit is given to the European Southern Observatory and the observer.