Comet Halley: November 1985 - May 1986

Comet Halley was the first comet I really photographed. Unfortunately, the comet was not very well placed during the entire apparition.  I began photographing the comet in November 1985 when the comet was a small fuzzy patch in Taurus and learned how to photograph the comet as it brightened. By January 1986, the comet had brightened to naked eye visibility and displayed a nice tail.


[IMAGE]


By Early March the comet had shifted from the evening to the morning sky. This photograph shows the comet and the moon in the early dawn sky.


[IMAGE]


In late March, Halley was near Sagittarius. This 50mm lens shot shows the comet and the Milky Way. Unknown to me, this was going to be the best part of the comet's display.


[IMAGE]


As a desire to get the best view of the comet possible, I traveled to the Florida Keys to shoot the comet. The comet did not display a very long tail for some reason but by the night of closest approach, the comet had a unique fan shape. This 135mm shot shows the comet on the night of closest approach to earth. Note the blue gas tail and the faint fan shaped dust tail.


[IMAGE]


A few days later I shot an interesting photograph of the comet near Omega Centauri. Again, the lens used was 135mm.


[IMAGE]

 

Back to Comets