hale and bopp - two guys make history
TRANSCRIPT
7/29/2019 Hale and Bopp - Two Guys Make History
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/hale-and-bopp-two-guys-make-history 1/19
by John Davidillustrated by Dave Blanchette
7/29/2019 Hale and Bopp - Two Guys Make History
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/hale-and-bopp-two-guys-make-history 2/19
Copyright © by Harcourt, Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or
by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information
storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Requests for permission to make copies of any part of the work should be addressed to School
Permissions and Copyrights, Harcourt, Inc., 6277 Sea Harbor Drive, Orlando, Florida 32887-
6777. Fax: 407-345-2418.
HARCOURT and the Harcourt Logo are trademarks of Harcourt, Inc., registered in the United
States of America and/or other jurisdictions.
Printed in the United States of America
ISBN 0-15-323160-2
Ordering Options
ISBN 0-15-325512-9 (Grade 3 Below-Level Collection)
ISBN 0-15-327016-0 (package of 5)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 026 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01
7/29/2019 Hale and Bopp - Two Guys Make History
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/hale-and-bopp-two-guys-make-history 3/19
by John Davidillustrated by Dave Blanchette
Visit The Learning Site!
www.harcourtschool.com
Orlando Boston Dallas Chicago San Diego
7/29/2019 Hale and Bopp - Two Guys Make History
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/hale-and-bopp-two-guys-make-history 4/19
2
From the time he was three years old,
Thomas Bopp has loved watching the night
sky. He has made it his hobby.
On July 23, 1995, in Arizona, Bopp’s hobby
brought him fame. He was looking at the night
sky through his telescope. He saw a faint glow he had never seen before. He asked a friend
who was with him to check the star charts.
These charts list every known object in space.
The glow was not on the chart!
7/29/2019 Hale and Bopp - Two Guys Make History
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/hale-and-bopp-two-guys-make-history 5/19
“Tom,” his friend told him excitedly, “I think
you may have something!”
On that same night in New Mexico, AlanHale was in his yard. He was also looking at the
night sky through his telescope, as he often did.
3
7/29/2019 Hale and Bopp - Two Guys Make History
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/hale-and-bopp-two-guys-make-history 6/19
4
It was a very clear night. Hale looked at a
part of the sky he had been studying a few
weeks earlier. Suddenly, he gasped in surprise.Something new was there. It was a faint
glow. Excited, Hale made a quick sketch of
what he saw. Before he went into the house, he
looked one more time. The glow was still there.
7/29/2019 Hale and Bopp - Two Guys Make History
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/hale-and-bopp-two-guys-make-history 7/19
5
Hale, too, checked his star charts. Like
Bopp, he did not find the object on them.
Quickly, Hale sent a message to a place in
Massachusetts that traces all comets. He told
the people at this center what he had seen.
7/29/2019 Hale and Bopp - Two Guys Make History
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/hale-and-bopp-two-guys-make-history 8/19
6
Thomas Bopp also left a message with the
center in Massachusetts. The next morning
he got a message back. “Congratulations, Tom!
I believe you’ve discovered a new comet.”
“That was one of the most excitingmoments of my life!” Bopp said. Twelve hours
after Hale and Bopp had first seen the comet, it
had a name—Comet Hale-Bopp.
7/29/2019 Hale and Bopp - Two Guys Make History
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/hale-and-bopp-two-guys-make-history 9/19
7
People everywhere heard about the comet.
They started tracking it. They found out that
Comet Hale-Bopp would come close to Earthin 1997.
People were expecting to see an amazing
show when the comet arrived. It might even be
the brightest comet in 400 years!
7/29/2019 Hale and Bopp - Two Guys Make History
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/hale-and-bopp-two-guys-make-history 10/19
8
Some people were thrilled. Other
people started to worry. Would the comet
hit Earth? Other people wondered, “What
is a comet, anyway?” A comet is one kind of space object that
orbits the sun. The center of a comet is called
its nucleus. The nucleus is made up of particles
of ice, dust, and rock.
7/29/2019 Hale and Bopp - Two Guys Make History
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/hale-and-bopp-two-guys-make-history 11/19
9
When a comet is far away from the sun,
its nucleus is a dark, frozen ball. As the
comet comes closer, it reflects the sun’s light.
The sun’s energy causes many changes inthe comet.
The sun’s warmth turns some of the ice in
the nucleus into gas. This gas surrounds the
comet and streams out behind it as a long tail.
Some comets form only one tail, but most form two.
7/29/2019 Hale and Bopp - Two Guys Make History
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/hale-and-bopp-two-guys-make-history 12/19
A gas tail can be millions of miles long. It is
formed when the comet’s gases come in contact
with solar wind. Solar wind comes from thesurface of the sun.
The gases in the tail soak up the sun’sforce, or energy. They begin to glow with a
fluorescent blue color. However, the
fluorescent blue color is hard for people to
see in the night sky. In fact, the gas tail may
not even look very bright.
10
7/29/2019 Hale and Bopp - Two Guys Make History
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/hale-and-bopp-two-guys-make-history 13/19
11
Another kind of tail is made up of particlesof dust from the comet. A dust tail is shorter
and brighter than a gas tail.
The comet’s orbit loops around the
sun. As the comet heads toward the sun, it
passes Earth.
7/29/2019 Hale and Bopp - Two Guys Make History
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/hale-and-bopp-two-guys-make-history 14/19
12
Although some people worried that Comet
Hale-Bopp would hit Earth, there was never
any chance of that happening. When it was
closest to Earth, Comet Hale-Bopp was still
122 million miles away.
In 1996 people became very excited. They
knew Comet Hale-Bopp would eventually be
bright enough to see without a telescope.
7/29/2019 Hale and Bopp - Two Guys Make History
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/hale-and-bopp-two-guys-make-history 15/19
13
Comet Hale-Bopp was even more exciting
than people had hoped. In early 1997 it could
be seen in the sky every night. It was brightest in the middle of March. Except for the moon,
Comet Hale-Bopp was the brightest object in
the sky. Its tail, which was several million miles
long, trailed off into the darkness.
7/29/2019 Hale and Bopp - Two Guys Make History
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/hale-and-bopp-two-guys-make-history 16/19
14
By May 1997 the remarkable Comet
Hale-Bopp had started to fade from view. By June it could no longer be seen from the
United States. By July it was too far away to be
seen from any part of Earth.
7/29/2019 Hale and Bopp - Two Guys Make History
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/hale-and-bopp-two-guys-make-history 17/19
15
However, the comet still loops in orbit
around the sun. The next time Comet Hale-Bopp will pass near Earth will be in the year
4377, more than two thousand years from now.
So if you missed it this time, you really missed
it! Meanwhile, Alan Hale and Thomas Bopp
still study the night sky.
7/29/2019 Hale and Bopp - Two Guys Make History
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/hale-and-bopp-two-guys-make-history 18/19
16
The sky is filled with billions of amazing
objects. Many of them are still waiting to be
discovered. Maybe the next space discovery
will be named after you!
7/29/2019 Hale and Bopp - Two Guys Make History
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/hale-and-bopp-two-guys-make-history 19/19
1How are Hale and Bopp similar? Why is
this important?
2When was Comet Hale-Bopp first seen as it
passed by Earth? When will it pass by
again?
3What is the main idea of this story?
4Why do you think some people were afraid
that Comet Hale-Bopp would hit Earth?
5What did you learn about comets that you
didn’t know before reading this book?
6Do you enjoy studying the stars and space?
Why or why not?
Halley’s Comet Another famous comet
is named Halley’s Comet. Find out when itwas last seen from Earth and when people
on Earth will be able to see it again. Are there
any comets that you’ll be able to see in
your lifetime?
Think and Respond
School-Home Connection Share this book
with a family member. Then go outside to see
what you can identify in the night sky.