LASCO Comet Hyakutake HOME PAGE

Welcome to the Comet Hyakutake page for the Large Angle and Spectrometric COronagraph Experiment (LASCO). The LASCO experiment was launched on the SOHO (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory) spacecraft. SOHO was launched on 2 December 1995 at 0808 UT (0308 EST) from the Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Comet 1996 B2 Hyakutake Images From LASCO C3 Coronagraph

Perihelion is on May 1, 1996 at 0.231 AU with an elongation of 7.6 degrees.

Minimum Elongation is approx 5.2 degrees and occurs on May 3, 1996

The comet will be in the C3 field of view until May 6, 1996.

<=== Comet Close-Up: White Light Image taken on 1 May 1996 near perihelion.

Comet and Corona : White Light Image - 1 May 1996. ====>

4 Panel view of comet (Blue filter) - Color Gif 180k bytes

Comet Movie (Blue filter) - Color Gif 765k bytes

On May 1, 1996 there was a coronal mass ejection (CME) seen by the LASCO C3 coronagraph while the Comet Hyakutake was also in the field of view. This provided a spectacular picture of a comet and an explosive solar event in which matter streams out from the sun at hundreds of kilometers per second in a single image. This image was created by subtracting an image prior to the CME from one during the CME. This has the effect of emphasizing the changes in the corona.

Comet and CME - Color Gif 477k bytes

Comet and CME - B&W Gif 477k bytes

This is a large animated GIF file showing the comet's motion over six days, April 30 - May 5, 1996

Comet Movie - B&W Gif 1533k

Here are two color MPEG movies showing the Comet and the Coronal Mass Ejection. They are identical versions in large and small editions.

Comet and CME Movie - Color MPEG 1745k

Comet and CME Movie - Color MPEG 394k

Hint: Use a MPEG or GIF viewer to view movies and images. Web browsers such as Mosaic or Netscape often reserve lots of colors for themselves and leave few for use by other applications.


<=== Comet Close-Up: White Light Image taken on 2 May 1996

Comet Close-Up : White Light Image near min. elongation - 3 May 1996. ====>

Images on this page may be published freely provided that credit is given to the four principal institutions listed on the LASCO Home Page.

Go to the LASCO Home Page


Questions and Comments about this page can be sent to :

wang@ares.nrl.navy.mil

NRL Naval Research Laboratory
Solar Physics Branch / Code 7660


Last revised 24 Nov 1998 - DW