This photo was taken close to Comet Peak near Florence Junction, Arizona on March 27, 1996, 3:50 a.m. MST by Rick Scott and Joe Orman. We used an Olympus OM-3 camera with a Zuiko (Olympus) 40mm f/2 lens. The exposure was 2 minutes at f/2 without the use of a star tracking motor drive. The film was Fuji Provia 1600 35mm Professional slide film processed for ISO 1600.
This is a new scan of the image now done with my Nikon LS-2000 scanner. The original scan of this was done on my old Nikon Coolscan LS-10 and was also the first astrophotograph I've ever scanned. I've learned quite a bit since then as can be seen in this new scan. I used Adobe Photoshop to apply mild color correction, and just a little unsharp masking.
The comet made its closest approach to Polaris (the North Star) this night, so photography was possible without using a star-tracker. The movement of the stars is most noticeable near the edges of the picture. Polaris is the brightest star just to the upper right of the comet's head. The visible tail was at least 40 degrees long this night. Check out the Astronomy Picture of the Day site for more astronomy pictures. The original scan of this photograph appeared on this prestigious site for 1 May 1996.
Updated: 3 November 2003