Tuesday, 29 July, 1997 at 2:30pm

Henry Matthews - JAC

"The JCMT Hale-Bopp Campaign - a Progress Report"

ABSTRACT: "Comet C/1995 O1 (Hale-Bopp) was first detected at millimeter wavelengths while still beyond the orbit of Jupiter in September 1995, and will still be visible from JCMT through November 1997. Hale-Bopp is a massive comet, with prodigious gas and dust output. Through perihelion in April 1997, and beyond, it has offered the first opportunity to study coma development over a large range of heliocentric distance with modern mm/submm equipment. I discuss our ongoing efforts to determine how outgassing changes with time, measurements of isotope ratios, the contrast between Hale-Bopp and Hyakutake (C/1996 B2), and the question of Hale-Bopp as a fragment of the proto-solar nebula."