The Comet Hale-Bopp European Team is a group of mostly European cometary scientists which was constituted in early 1996 with the aim of coordinating their studies of the unusual Comet Hale-Bopp. The group consists of 19 scientists representing most European cometary research teams and a further 16 collaborators.

This group competed for International Time 1997 at the Canary Islands Observatories, a programme for use of major research facilities supported by the European Union. Its proposal was successful and the group was allocated a substantial amount of observing time at eight different telescopes at the La Palma and Teide Observatories in March and April 1997.

The observations include visual and infrared imaging and spectroscopy with a variety of instruments. Some were carried out simultaneously, allowing series of observations with different techniques to be directly intercompared and thus further enhancing the scientific value of the data. Moreover, because of the exceptional brightness of this comet, spectroscopic studies with very high resolution were made which are expected to cast new light on the detailed processes in the cometary environment.

The group has initiated preparations for an International Conference on Comet Hale-Bopp which will be held on Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, from February 2-5, 1998.

The Members of the group are: C. Arpigny (Institut d'Astrophysique, Liege, Belgium), D. Bockelee-Morvan (Obs. de Meudon, France), H. Boehnhardt (Astron. Institut, Munich, Germany), G. Cremonese (Oss. Astr., Padova, Italy), J. Crovisier (Obs. de Meudon, France), A. Fitzsimmons (Queens University, Belfast, UK), M. Fulle (Oss. Astr., Trieste, Italy), K. Jockers (MPI f. Aeronomie, Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany), L. Jorda (MPI f. Aeronomie, Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany), H.-U. Kaeufl (ESO, Garching, Germany), M. Kidger (IAC, Spain), P.-O. Lagage (CEA Saclay, France), J. Manfroid (Institut d'Astrophysique, Liege, Belgium), H. Rauer (Obs. de Meudon, France), H. Rickman (Astr. Obs., Uppsala, Sweden), R. Schulz (MPI f. Aeronomie, Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany), N. Thomas (MPI f. Aeronomie, Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany), G.-P. Tozzi (Oss. Astr., Firenze, Italy) and R. West (Coordinator; ESO, Garching, Germany).

The collaborators are: K. Birkle (Calar Alto Obs., Spain), T. Bonev (Bulgarian Acad. Sci., Sofia, Bulgaria), R. Casas (IAC, Spain), T. Credner (MPI f. Aeronomie, Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany), P.D. Feldman (Johns Hopkins Univ., Baltimore, USA), P. Galdemard (CEA Saclay, France), A. Gómez (IAC, Spain), T. Kostiuk (NASA-GSFC, Greenbelt, MD, USA), J. Licandro (IAC, Spain), G. Olofsson (Stockholm Obs., Sweden), D. Osip (Univ. Florida, USA), E. Pantin (CEA Saclay, France), H.G. Reimann (Univ. Jena, Germany), Z. Sekanina (Jet Propulsion Lab, Pasadena, USA), M. Serra-Ricart (IAC, Spain), J. Solc (University of Prague, Czech Republic) and R. Torres-Chico (IAC, Spain).

Hale-Bopp Conference Home Page.