On the night of July 22, Bopp was observing the sky with friends in the Arizona desert when he made the discovery.

It was there that, at the age of three, his father Frank Bopp[5] introduced him to astronomy on the porch steps of the family home as they watched a meteor shower.

[7] He joined the United States Air Force and served in the Philippines where several times he observed the green flash, an optical phenomenon which occurs just before sunset above the setting sun.

[6] After 18 months of service he was moved to Davis–Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Arizona, where he met his wife-to-be Charlotte.

While attending the university, he had access to the physics and astronomy departments and took their classes as part of the elective elements of his education.

He regularly attended meetings and became friends with astronaut Ronald A. Parise and enjoyed observing deep sky objects with the club's 16" Newtonian reflector telescope.

[4] In 1980 Bopp moved to Phoenix, Arizona, to work in the parts department of a construction company and continued to attend astronomy clubs in the local area.

He joined the North Phoenix Alternative Astronomical Society, an unofficial group of enthusiasts founded by Kevin Gill who met up to observe in the Arizona desert.

[2][14] Bopp and his friends checked star charts and watched the object for an hour to determine whether it was moving.

[3]The following morning at 8:25 am the office of Brian Marsden, director of the Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams, called him back to confirm the sighting was indeed a comet.

When they met at a conference two months later, Bopp said to the press that he was glad that Hale "turned out to be a nice guy.

[10] On March 21, 1997, Hale and Bopp were named ABC Person of the Week in the Friday night broadcast.

"[29] In 1997, when Bopp pointed out the comet would soon disappear from view and would not be visible for another 2380 years, he said he would always continue looking up at the stars.