Enchanted Skies Star Party, Socorro, 1995: Tom Bopp and Alan Hale

Alan Hale and Tom Bopp at the Enchanted Skies Star Party, Socorro, 1995. The two co-discoverers of Hale-Bopp, the “comet of the century,” were keynote speakers for that event, and it was in front of the crowd of attendees that they first met in person. They had been in contact by email and telephone for some time already, and considered themselves friends, and our star party was their first meeting. They wanted to meet dramatically for the first time in front of the crowd, and insisted that they be booked into separate hotels to avoid an accidental meeting. Hale spoke first, telling his discovery story, then said he wanted to introduce “my friend Tom Bopp.” Bopp stood up from the middle of the crowd and walked forward for their first handshake, to the applause of the crowd. The star party’s T-shirt for that year said, “Where Hale met Bopp."

Records of the NRAO

NRAO/AUI/NSF

Still Image

Bopp-Hale-1995.jpg

Color print

1995-00-00

NRAO/AUI/NSF

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Photographs Series

Conferences, Symposia & Lectures Unit

Miscellaneous Meetings Subunit

2B