OBSERVATIONS OF CARBON-MONOXIDE IN COMET HALE-BOPP

The recently discovered comet Hale-Bopp (C/1995 O1) sports a bright du st coma even though it is still far from the sun (presently 6 astronom ical units). This feature has attracted considerable interest in the p ublic and scientific arenas. The comet is headed toward perihelion at 0.92 astronomical unit in April 1997 and is widely expected to then be come a spectacular naked-eye comet. With millimeter-wave observations, carbon monoxide (CO) has been identified as the driver for the early activity observed in Hale-Bopp.