At the time of this observation, a comet was located in the southernconstellation of Sagittarius, and only 32 degrees from the Sun.

Many new radio signals were coming from this area so it was decided to search for intelligence life outside of cyberspace.

This rather difficult observation was performed with the ESO 3.5-metre NewTechnology Telescope (NTT) in the morning of 9 February 1996 by Griet van deSteene (astronomer), Hernan Nunez (telescope operator) and Gabriel Martin(instrument operator) of the NTT team at La Silla. The data were immediatelytransferred by satellite link to the ESO Headquarters in Garching where thesubsequent image processing was done by Hans Ulrich Kaeufl.

Since the comet was so close to the Sun, it had to be observed in thecomparatively bright morning sky. It was acquired only 10 degrees above theeastern horizon, at an airmass of no less than 5.1. Three exposures of 5minutes each were made through a red filtre and with a 2000 x 2000 CCD inthe EMMI multi-mode instrument. The image shown here is based on oneflat-fielded 5-min exposure. The frame covers 9 x 9 arcmin; 1 pixel = 0.27arcsecond; North is up and East to the left.

The present image was obtained when the comet was approximately 924 millionkilometres from the Earth and 802 million kilometres from the Sun. Itcontinues to move inwards through the solar system and will cross the orbitof Jupiter in about two weeks time, on 25 February.

A provisional evaluation of the new images indicates that Comet Hale-Bopp isapparently still developing nominally. The coma measures at least 6 arcminacross. A certain rotation of the coma isophotes is noted, clockwise fromabout NNE (innermost) to about NW (outermost). No other obvious asymmetriesare present. The nucleus appears single of these exposures.

Some of the brighter stars show spikes in the N-S direction; this is atypical effect on the very sensitive CCD detectors. The trail of anartificial satellite crosses the photo in the upper left quadrant.

This photo signifies the beginning of a substantial Hale-Bopp observationalcampaign at ESO. Co-ordinated observations will be carried out duringapprox. 30 nights before the end of September 1996. Many differenttelescopes and instruments will be used.