From: "Nick Martin" N.Martin@au.sac.ac.uk
Date: Thu, 27 Feb 1997 08:52:49 +0000
Subject: Hale Bopp in infra red plus Zodiacal light
Last night, feb. 26 at about 19.30UT I observed comet Hale Bopp using 9X63 binoculars and a Lynx1 night sight using its long focus lens giving about x3 magnification (order of magnitude estimate).
The Linx long focus lens has an integral infra red viewing filter with a cut off in the far red. The image of the comet seen in infra red was very different from the visible light. The coma appeared much more evenly illuminated, the asymmetry caused by the southern jet was not nearly so obvious. The coma appeared broader and more rounded, more like the exhaust plume of a rocket at high altitude than the swept back "comet" shape so obvious in visible light. There was ºwhat looked like a conspicuous jet at a position angle of about 300 degrees but this followed the edge of the apparent coma so could be a line of sight effect looking through the thickness of the leading edge of the infra red coma plume.
What this observation shows is that it would be a worthwhile goal of those with CCD cameras to fit a infra red transmitting filter a try to get some images in the infra red as they may show a quite different picture from that in visible light.
My other personal sucess last night was to see for the first time in my 54 years the zodiacal light. I was observing from a seaside cliff top car park looking west into a very clear sky with scattered patches of cloud. The clouds in the west cleared and saw to my great delight the zodiacal light. It was immediatly obvious what it was, a large beautiful diffuse cone of pearly bluish ligh. As time passed the setting cone became narrower and more elongated in the direction of Taurus reaching almost as far as the Pleiades. Sadly I did not have a camera with me but this first mental impression is sufficiently memorable.
Nick Martin
Ayrshire, Scotland, UK
From: Ian G. gore_i@chefs.enet.dec.com
Date: Fri, 21 Feb 97 12:19:15 MET
Subject: RE: Hale-Bopp Nucleus spliting ?
Andres Valencia wrote;
>Translation:
>2-20-97, 4H 50' UT, 4 main matter waves split from cometary nucleus, >observed at 260X, C-14, images on C-14 with ST-6A F7, direction >Northeast-East, Magnitude 1.1, please forward this information.
>Mallorca-OAM Astronomical Observatory
>Can any of you confirm ?
I can't *confirm* it, but I was observing HB exactly 1 hour later and saw 2, maybe 3, bright spots that appeared detached from the nucleus, in those positions. This was at x60 with my 8.75" dob. I tried at x100 but the view was worse. I had another look a few minutes later, and the separation of the eastern spot appeared more distinct. The sky was lightening rapidly by now, so I attributed this to the fine detail being washed out.
Ian G.
From: George Zay GeoZay@aol.com
Date: Mon, Wed, 19 Feb 1997 10:20:43 -0500 (EST)
Subject: Hale/Bopp Observation Feb 19 ZAYGE
I made another pre work trip to my observatory to photograph comet Hale/Bopp under 6.0 and clear skies. Again using my 4 inch at f/5 made two photographs...a 23 minute with color print film and the other a 28 minute exposure with t-max 400 film. The comet appears to be brighter to me this morning. Bright enough to give it a 1.3 if you condense the nucleus and coma....this is equaling Deneb. As for it's tail...I give the dust tail a 2.5 degrees and if you add the very dim ion tail, I get a total of 4 degrees.
George Zay
From: "Tony Cecce, Corning, NY" CECCE_AJ@CORNING.COM
Date: Mon, Wed, 19 Feb 1997 09:44:38 -0500 (EST)
Subject: Re: Comet Hale-Bopp and the Public
Several thoughts come to mind for lack of current interest:
I'm sure it will be a popular thing (if it gets easy to observe) when it moves into the evening sky. This comet may not be as large as Hyakutake in dark skies, but the brightness it is displaying so far indicates it may be much better than Hyakutake in urban skies which would helps its media popularity.
For the amateur astronomer (especially those who appreciate the uniqueness of every comet, and those who enjoy following the changes of a comet as it passes through our neighborhood, and those who live on the edge of their seat waiting for the next discovery) this is a very exciting time.
This comet is displaying such magnificent detail and brightness already. I could see the tail through the windshield of the van the other morning (2/16/97) as I drove to darker skies. Naked eye the dust tail was easy to see for close to two degrees, the ion trail could be glimpsed out to seven degrees. I estimated the brightness naked eye as 1.1, slightly brighter then Deneb, much dimmer than Altair. It fit in quite well with the summer triangle (or could we say summer trapezium?), although the fuzziness and distinct blue color of the coma gave it away. Through binoculars the tails could be followed a longer distance where it was lost in the summer milky way, the bright nucleus appeared to be oblong.
A telescope revealed the true nature of the nucleus. It had a dazzling bright stellar nucleus with a bright jet (actually fountain is a better word) coming from the southeast quarter. This jet was quickly swept back into the tail, the northern edge of the jet bending early 180 degrees while the southern edge bent 90 degree, within several arc minutes of the nucleus. Even through a small 5.5" dob the brightness of the nuclear structure was nearly blinding.
We are not yet to the climax of a multi year show. I can't imagine observational astronomy getting any better than this.
Carpe noctum,
(*) It will also be a morning object. In fact, for northern locations the head will be circumpolar. It will set for only a few hours here at 42oN, with a possible circumpolar tail sticking above the northern horizon.
Tony
From: Peter Nicholl nichopr@FREESPACE.NET
Date: Tue, 18 Feb 1997 01:20:25 -0500
Subject: Hale-Bopp at last - telescopic
Woke up early again Monday morning - 4.30am EST, this not by design but stuffed up with a cold, it's hard to sleep well. Looked out the window - clear. Now or never this month for a moonless view so I don the arctic gear and, fortified by half a cup of tea, trudge over the frozen snow drifts to the observatory. Check the thermometer in the observatory before opening up : -22 C. The focusser on the 6" refractor is very stiff. Put the 55mm Plossl on with the Hendrick eyepiece heater ( otherwise everything is going to look like a comet).
This comet looks much brighter now than when I checked it out last week with binoculars from indoors. Looking at it somewhat defocussed - naked eye,no glasses- it looks only slightly dimmer than Deneb and brighter than gamma Cygni so the 1.5 estimates I have been hearing seem close. The structure of the nucleus shows much better with the telescope. The tail is quite broad, almost two distinct tails. I could trace it over the whole eyepiece field, stretching NW about 2º. The coma on the W side of the nucleus is much more prominent than on the NE side. Despite the temperature, this held my attention till dawn. This session reminds me of something I read about the hazards of 19th century astronomy- the major ones were : falling off the ladder and catching pneumonia. The 20th century added another one - getting arrested!
Peter
44º N 80º 35' W
Antoni Parra aparra1@pie.xtec.es
16 de febrer.
Ja era hora!
Vam sortir de Barcelona a les 3:45 a.m. El cel es va anar tapant a mida que ens acostavem al Montseny. Malgrat tot, vam continuar. Cap el sud, mirant enrera, semblava que anés a sortir el Sol. Fugiem, precisament, de tota aquesta contaminació lluminosa.
Vam arribar a Santa Fe quan eren poc més de les cinq. La Lluna feia unes quantes hores que s'havía amagat. Els cristalls de glaç del gebre lluien com estels en reflectir la llum de la llanterna. El cel era clar cap el nord, però amb molts cirrus per tot arreu, que només deixaven algunes escletxes entre ells.
Cap a l'est es veia el Hale-Bopp fàcilment, a ull nu, fins i tot mig amagat pels cirrus. Per sort, vam tenir una estona de visió clara, quan eren prop de les sis de la matinada, just quan el cometa ja era prou alt sobre l'horitzó i encara era molt fosc. Es veia bé de totes maneres: amb binocles, i amb telescopi, amb petit i gran augment. La cua es veia millor amb poc augment: amb els binocles 20x60 era impresionant.
Vaig fer algunes fotos, però esperaré a fer-ne més quan tingui ocasió, abans de portar-les a revelar. Després de veure les magnífiques fotos amb càmera Schmidt que fan alguns observatoris no crec que cap de les que he fet mereixi que la publiqui. Ja ho veurem.
Toni
Desde Santa Fe del Montseny
Antoni Parra
10 de febrer.
Aquesta vegada he tingut sort
Em llevo cada dia a les 6 de la matinada, a corre-cuita, per donar una ulladeta al cel. Em vesteixo com si anés a esquiar. Pujo al terrat, carregat amb el trípode i el petit telescopi Celestron. Hi ha una mica de boira i molta contaminació lluminosa. El triangle d'estiu es tot el que puc veure cap a l'est. Altair es distingeix amb dificultat. Aquest matí, ja amb una mica de pràctica, no m'ha costat gaire de trobar el cometa: imagino que el triangle d'estiu és equilàter, amb un costat delimitat pels estels Deneb i Vega; el tercer vèrtex és el cometa. De vegades, quan el vull trobar, segueixo la línia que va d'Altair (alfa Aquilae) a Vega (alfa Lyrae), i quan arribo a Sagitta exploro una mica la regió a petit augment, i el trobo facilment. Qualsevol descripció que fes del que veig seria ridícula comparada amb les magnífiques observacions que podeu trobar a aquesta pàgina, fetes per astrònoms professionals amb equips meravellosos. Només veig el nucli i la part més brillant de la cabellera: els 8 minuts centrals, aproximadament. Com m'agradaria veure'l des d'un lloc ben fosc! A algú que visqui prop de Barcelona li agradaria fer una sortida el proper cap de setmana, si fa bon temps, a algun lloc adient -- el Montseny, per exemple --?
Sort que no he estat mirant tota l'estona per l'ocular!. M'hagués perdut un dels bòlids més brillants que mai hagi vist. Semblaba un dels llums de mercuri dels fanals del carrer: de color blanc, verd molt brillant per la part davantera, amb una curta cua de color blanc. La trajectòria va anar des d'una mica més avall i a l'esquerra de Deneb cap a l'horitzó: uns 10 graus en dos segons. No vaig sentir cap explosió. Algú més l'ha vist?
Algú em podria donar informació sobre el bòlid que fa una setmana van dir al Telenotícies vespre de TV3 que va caure a Catalunya?
Toni
Des del terrat de casa meva a l'Hospitalet del Llobregat
From: JOHN LEPPERT denebobs@utma.com
Date: Sat, 08 Feb 1997 09:54:24 -0800
Subject: Hale-Bopp observation report - January 08
From today's journal entry, the 20th observation since December 26 when Comet Hale-Bopp was recovered in the pre-dawn sky:
FEBRUARY 08. After having slept at the observatory the previous two nights and than only getting fleeting glimpses of the comet, I elected to sleep overnight at the house since I figured my chances of seeing it this morning were poor, given last night's overcast skies. I awoke with a start at 4 o'clock, leapt out of bed and parted the bedroom curtains fully expecting to see nothing. Behold clear skies! Thought, must be damp and a bit windy --- ice crystals reflecting off yard light a mile south. After hastily dressing, I walked out into the pleasant 12Fo morning reaching the observatory a quarter past the hour; what a sight --- bright coma just to the lower left of gamma Sagittae --- 2-3o tail conspicuous. Thinking, I'm not gonna waste time diddling with cameras this morning, let's just spend a couple hours at the telescope and enjoy the view. After first using the binoculars, I uncovered the 8-inch SCT, aligned the NGC-MAX on Vega so I could get coordinate fixes for the comet, and then moved the telescope down towards the northeastern horizon. Glancing only briefly in the 9x60 finderscope, I quickly inserted a 2-inch 40 mm SW ocular into the diagonal, than stepped back, and took a quick glance again towards the comet while thinking the 2o field (32x) ought to be pretty wonderful. Turning back, I took a deep breath, shifted my head to the left, and slowly descended my right eye to the eyepiece. I thought --- God, what I've been missing the last 6 weeks using the old 4-inch Dynascope... the detail...what a magnificent comet...this is without a doubt as fine as Hyakutake, even lacking that wonderful segmented tail...if only my friends could see Hale-Bopp here, or at the very least at a site as dark as this --- such were my thoughts. I than inserted a 2-inch 14 mm UW ocular for a closer view at 91x, noting bright 3.5 magnitude gamma Sge at the edge of the 0.9o field looking dim by comparison to the brilliant elongated nucleus sporting jets, encircled by a well defined hood-like coma, while steams of matter flowed off in a shapely gossamer-like tail. It's show time! An observing log follows:
CST Comet Hale-Bopp field stars comments / other object(s)
Alt Az mag PAo sep Alt Az
- -----------------------------------------------------------------------
04:15 4.0o 64.7o sighted naked eye
04:25 5.5o 66.6o 8x56 binoculars
04:55 10.2o 72.1o 40 mm ocular (32x & 2.09o field)
05:13 13.0o 75.2o 14 mm ocular (91x & 0.92o field)
05:50 19.0o 81.9o 14 mm ocular - made field drawing
elongated nucleus PA 135o-315o
tail PA 40o
20hr0.4min RA +19o23' DEC
3.5 50 0o23' gamma Sge
7.7 25 0o31' within the tail
8.7 130 0o04'
8.8 220 0o04'
8.8 350 0o22'
9.2 330 0o13'
9.2 45 0o25' within the tail
9.3 95 0o29'
06:45 28.3o 92.3o last sighted through cloud
John Leppert
Deneb Observatory 48o56'07"N 99o09'40"W
From: palmer@sfu.ca (Leigh Palmer)
Date: Tue, 4 Feb 1997 06:53:12 +0800
Subject: Hale-Bopp on a frosty morning
I awoke this morning at my usual 5:40 and took my customary morning shower. I live beside an 85-acre lake here in Burnaby, British Columbia (49.3 degrees N latitude). Most winter mornings it is either cloudy or clear but foggy. This morning is an exception. It is clear and transparent, so I grabbed my trusty 20x60s (tripod mounted) and headed out into the park to see if I could find the comet. I had not yet seen it (I'm an astronomer?) and I'd read that it is now a naked eye object. Needless to say to those of you who have seen it, I didn't need my glasses to find it. It is lovely! Wouldn't it be nice to just freeze it there in its spot between Altair and Albireo in the summer triangle? From my place at six am the tail (it hardly deserves the name, being as fat as it is) points straight toward the zenith, and since it stands more than twenty degrees above the horizon I can see it from my own yard over my housetop. I needn't go into the park at all. I did have a look at it through the binocs. The nucleus seems to be spread a bit in the horizontal direction. I discerned no discrete streamers, just a very fat, luminous coma that tailed off somewhere above the top of my field of view with the comet centered. I didn't spend all my time looking at the comet. Mars is around, I see, and the crescent Moon is gorgeous this morning. Antares is blazing away, and I can make out five stars in Corona Borealis. I was too lazy to put the binocs on it to see if T CBr had somehow erupted. That is difficult with objects high in the sky.
I've got to get to work (I write in the mornings). Just had to share this, however. We're going to enjoy this comet!
Leigh
From: George Zay GeoZay@aol.com
Date: Mon, 3 Feb 1997 12:23:24 -0500 (EST)
Subject: Hale/Bopp Observation Feb 3 ZAYGE
Observing from my Descanso observatory under clear, but windy skies and a Limiting magnitude of 6.0, the comet looked superb. Looking thru 14X100 binoculars, I was able to see a 2 degree tail. As for estimated magnitude, I used both Epsilon Cygni and Gamma Cygni as reference stars. After condensing the coma and tail, I give Hale/Bopp a magnitude range of 2.0 - 2.2. I can see part of the tail with the naked eye. Thru the binoculars, the view was the best I've seen of this comet yet. It appeared better looking to me than Hyakutake did when it was just sporting a 2 degree tail. The tail now has a graceful soft look. It reminds me of a boulder in a river as both sides of the coma swept back it's tail and rejoined with a noticeable gap directly behind the coma.
George Zay
Descanso, Calif.
Long: 116 deg 37' West Lat: 32 deg 50' North