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M.R. Combi (U. Michigan)
Comet Hale-Bopp (C/1995 O1) was discovered far (~7 AU) from the sun and is the largest comet in modern times, both in estimates of the size of nucleus (a radius of 20 - 40 km) and in the rates of production of gas and dust into the coma and tails. This, combined with continued advances in ground-based and near-Earth-based instrumentation, has permitted an unprecedented range and quality of remote observations of gas and dust to be obtained. Observations of gas production rates have provided information about the variation in water to volatile production over a wide range of heliocentric distance. Observations of the variation of dust-jet morphology over time have provided information about the rotation state of the nucleus and the distribution of active areas on the surface of the nucleus. The highlights of the important issues regarding the major phenomena associated with comet Hale-Bopp are reviewed. These issues include, the size of the nucleus, its spin state, the distribution of activity on the surface, the variation of gas and dust production over time, chemical and isotopic composition, and the dust, gas, and plasma environment.