"Comet Hale-Bopp" Sculpture

Watch VIDEO on YouTube This original andesite sculpture on granite stand is one of the latest artworks of the talented Bulgarian contemporary professional sculptor Ognyan Chitakov, deeply inspired by organic abstraction, postmodernism, abstract expressionism and astronomy science. It is a stunning abstract three dimensional form and an amazing elaborate carving in one solid piece of beautiful raw sandstone rock. The artist's concept is to create an unique spatial form with the help of extraordinary maze of carvings and details, both in order and disorder and leaving the feeling of lightness and outer space flight. The artwork is one amazing contemporary stone masterpiece and exquisite modern home décor. You can twist it by hand in both directions, as seen on the video. "The stone material is alive and has a soul. I never ignore it and its gravity as well. I try to give each artwork the feeling of lightness." ... by the artist Comet Hale-Bopp, long-period comet that was spectacularly visible to the naked eye, having a bright coma, a thick white dust tail, and a bright blue ion tail. It was discovered independently on July 23, 1995, by Alan Hale and Thomas Bopp, two American amateur astronomers, at the unusually far distance of 7.15 astronomical units (AU; about 1 billion km [600 million miles]) from the Sun, well beyond Jupiter’s orbit. The comet reached perihelion (closest distance to the Sun) at 0.914 AU on April 1, 1997, without ever coming very close to Earth (nearest distance 1.31 AU [196 million km, or 122 million miles]), because the comet passed through perihelion on the opposite side of the Sun from Earth and its orbit was almost perpendicular to that of Earth. From the comet’s rate of gas production, its nucleus was estimated to be at least 30 km (20 miles) in diameter.