A IOTA/ES image of Comet Hyakutake (March 27)

The European Section of the International Timing Association (IOTA/ES) has used its fast occultation camera equipped with a cooled TC245 chip to record images of comet Hyakutake. One of the rare days in the Munich area (Germany), where the weather allowed observation of the comet was March 27, 1996. The picture was taken at the 'Forschungszentrum fuer Umwelt und Gesundheit' (GSF; Centre for Environment and Health), just a few kilometers from the ESO Headquarters.

The image is unfiltered, wavelength range from 400 to 1000nm. The exposure time was 5 sec and the field of view is 18.8 x 11.2 arcmin. The telescope was a 200mm Newton 1:6. The observers were W. Beisker and E. Hummel. The epoch of this image was 03/27/1996, 22h25m13s UTC.

A fragment (condensation) is seen in the tail on the original image, but it may be difficult to spot it on this [GIF,80k] version.

More information is available from: Dr. Wolfgang Beisker GSF - AG Durchflusszytometrie, Ingolstaedter Landstr. 1, D-85764 Oberschleissheim, Germany; (email: beisker@gsf.de) .

This photo may be reproduced, if credit is given to the European Southern Observatory and the observers.