when was comet hale-bopp last visible from earth
Hale-Bopp was an unusually bright comet that swung near Earth in the late 1990s, reaching its closest approach to the planet in 1997.It was most spectacular in the Northern Hemisphere and visible to the naked eye for about 18 months. Hale-Bopp was probably one of the most viewed comets in history.By comparison, the sun is 93 million miles, or 150 million km, from Earth). Astronomers still had the Hyakutake comet fresh in their minds at the time as the previous one passed by in 1996. Hale-Bopp was many times farther away than Hyakutake, but still appeared much brighter.