This composite image of Comet Hale-Bopp was made by Frostburg State University physics student Ben Cushwa. Ben digitally cut and pasted approximately sixteen different images of comet Hale-Bopp taken on the evening of April 2, 1997 to produce the final image. Digital cutting and pasting permits a large area of the sky to be imaged using a telescope and camera that normally cover a much smaller area. The result is a larger image with higher resolution than can be obtained in a single photograph. The only side effect of this procedure is that it is impossible to completely eliminate the seams between the individual images. (Seams are also visible in images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope!) All sixteen individual images (and thus the complete composite image) have been logarithmically scaled by replacing each picture value with its corresponding logarithm. Log scaling tends to compress the brightness range of an image, allowing one to view both bright areas (such as the comet's head) and dim areas (such as the tail) at the same time. In addition, a shorter exposure was used for the head of the comet to prevent overexposure. The final result is a beautiful, wide-field image that shows both the head and tail of the comet at the same time. The 43kb "standard" image is actually a half resolution image obtained by scaling the original image down by 50%. This results in a smaller image file and the image is better suited for viewing on a 640 x 480 x 256 color video driver. The original 151kb image is best viewed on a 1024 x 768 x 256 color video driver. Check your windows manual or windows help file for information on how to change video drivers. Object: Comet Hale-Bopp Date: Evening, April 2, 1997 Telescope focal length: 500mm Telescope aperture: 80mm Camera: Santa Barbara Instruments ST-6 Exposure: 5s for each of the sixteen individual exposures, plus a special 1s exposure for the head of the comet. Observer(s): Greg and Teddy Latta Processed by: Ben Cushwa, Frostburg State University physics student