The brightest comet in two decades approached the Big Sky, bringing with it high hopes for students during spring break. While some FHS students were taking spring break road trips, astronomy club members joined millions of other comet watchers around the world as the comet Hale-Bopp flew within 120 million miles of the Earth's atmosphere, on March 22.
It's the comet's only trip around for another 2,000 years, according to astronomy club adviser Todd Robins.
"It was magnificent," said Robins of the comet, which will be visible until May. "It was very bright ... very spectacular."
Hale-Bopp was the most distant comet ever discovered by amateur astronomers in July of '95. Astronomers Alan Hale and Thomas Bopp first sighted the comet near the star constellation Sagittarius.
Although Astronomy Club members had trouble viewing the comet because of weather, their hopes were not vanquished, as their waiting paid off when they viewed it on March 23. When the comet came within 120 million miles of the Earth, it was fighting the light of the full moon. But the partial lunar elipse on March 23 made it a better day to view it.
Astronomy Club members examined the length of the comet's tail and the coma, which is the front of the comet. And they were also able to view the 92 percent lunar eclipse, that according to Robins, was partially obscured by cloud cover.
"When I viewed it on my own time, I've seen the comet fragment a lot," said Robins. "It's not unusual that Hale-Bopp is doing this."
They met at Herron Park, March 23 to view the comet at 9 p.m. and observed it until 11 p.m..
The comet will be closest to the sun in April. Hale-Bopp also releases three kilograms of gas every second - five times more than Halley's comet in 1985. The comet's nucleus is 40 kilometers - four times the average comet size.
"It really stood out in the sky," said junior Laura Paisley. "I was too young to remember Halley's comet, but now I can say I've seen Hale-Bopp.
Said Robins: "It was kind of exciting, because it doesn't happen everyday."