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From the High Desert

A Cultural History of Art Bell

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Chuck Shramek

Chuck Shramek

AstronomyCometsHale-Bopp

Chuck Shramek (1950–2000) was an amateur astronomer recognized for his observations of Comet Hale-Bopp and his controversial claim of photographing a "companion object" near the comet, which ignited one of the most heated astronomical debates of the 1990s. As a guest on late-night radio, his photographs and his assertions about the companion object generated enormous public interest and became a defining moment in the intersection of amateur astronomy and conspiracy culture.

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Episode thumbnail for December 6, 1996: Hale Bopp - Whitley Strieber & Chuck Shramek

December 6, 1996: Hale Bopp - Whitley Strieber & Chuck Shramek

Dec 6, 1996
1h 19m
Whitley Strieber and amateur astronomer Chuck Shramek join Art Bell to examine the growing controversy surrounding Comet Hale-Bopp and its mysterious companion object. Shramek, who took 161 photographs of the comet from Houston, describes how NASA and JPL rushed to debunk his findings while multiple independent sour...