Re: Hale Bopp
Hi Dan,
The site is indeed very interesting and instructive.
I think an open parabola is a hyperbola?
It may look like that near the Sun, but it should be an ellipse if you consider distances such as light-months.
Hale Bopp also came from so far away (one orbit every 4,000 years) but nearing Jupiter , it changed drastrically into a twice as shorter orbit! (still, 2,800 years or so).
Raoul