Comet Hyakutake is one of the most fascinating comets this century, due 
to its close approach to earth.  Comet Hyakutake was discovered in late 
January 1996 and became (as of March 1996) the brightest comet visible 
from the earth in 20 years.  This photograph is a digital mosaic of six 
images taken when the comet was at its closest to earth at a distance of 
0.102 AU, (about 15 million kilometers or 9.3 million miles) on March 25 
(at about 7 hours Greenwich Mean Time, or about 2 a.m. USA Eastern 
Standard Time).  Comet Hyakutake (C/1996 B2) was then moving some 10-20 
degrees per day across the northern sky, and the comet was visible all 
night long.  The images were taken by Dr. Greg Latta and his wife Teddy.  
The images were digitally processed and assembled by Frostburg State 
University physics student Ben Cushwa as part of the FSU CCD astronomy 
program. 

Comet Hyakutake was discovered on January 30 Universal Time (Greenwich 
Mean Time) by a Japanese amateur named Yuji Hyakutake from Hayato-machi, 
Aira-gun, Kagoshima-ken, Japan.  The comet was discovered using using 
25x150 binoculars (these large binoculars have lenses that are 6 inches 
across).  The comet was rapidly confirmed by other experienced observers 
in Japan, and the results were reported to the worldwide clearinghouse 
for comet discoveries in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the Central Bureau 
for Astronomical Telegrams (CBAT).

The standard image is actually a 50% reduction of the zoom image, which 
is the original, unaltered mosaic image.  The detail images of the head 
and tail are two of the six images that were digitally assembled for the 
final image. 

Object: Comet Hyakutake
Telescope focal length: 500mm
Telescope aperture: 80mm
Camera: Santa Barbara Instruments ST-6
Exposure: 10 or 20s, depending on image section
Observer(s): Greg and Teddy Latta, digital assembly by Ben Cushwa