Date: Mon, 24 Mar 1997 12:31:28 -0400
Subject: Un eclipse perfecte i un cometa meravellós
From: Mark Wagner mgw@resource-intl.com
Date: Mon, 31 Mar 1997 15:06:44 -0800 (PST)
Subject: Comet Crazies
Friday night, The Astronomy Connection (TAC) held a star party at a middle school in Los Gatos, California, for the public to come out and get aquainted with Comet Hale-Bopp. As sunset approached, the number of telescopes we had exceeded 20, brought in by active observers from Monterey, the upper San Francisco peninsula, and out into the east ba. This is a large geographic area, and can testify to the desire and willingness of like-minded observers to travel unusual distances to share views and camaraderie. Before the sun fell behind the Santa Cruz mountains, roughly a hundred interested members of the public had gathered, along with local newspaper photographers, looking at the hardware, which included an 18" Obsession, 18" Sky Design, 17" home-built, 14.5" home-built, several 10" and 8" dobs, a number of Meade LX-200's ranging in size from 12" down to 8's, a Celestron Ultima 2000, Astrophyics 130 and Traveler, Takahashi 128, Miyauchi 20x100 binoculars, and many other wonderful optics. The crowd loved it.
Soon, the comet blinked into view below a few wisps of cloud drifting slowly in the west, from north to south. The excitement in the crowd was electric, as all heads turned northwest and voices murmured "right there" and "just under *that* little cloud. Binoculars and telescopes quickly swung into action. The owner of the 12" LX-200, being new to large crowds at events pushed by the press, commented to me twice that there were "too many people!" And in fact, had we fewer than what at that point must have easily been 25 telescopes set up, the crush would have been unbearable. Lines were long at all the equipment, and more people could be seen streaming into the school yard from the parking lot.
All sorts of questions were asked. What are the "rings" around the front of the comet. What will happen to it? Have they ever hit the earth and what would happen? What are they made of? How large are they? Where do they come from? And, of course, the usual gasps of amazement and comments on the beauty of the view in binoculars, where the extent of the visible tail could be appreciated.
We received thanks from so many people, it was an extremely rewarding evening. Of course, when the comet dropped into the muck, scopes turned to the other celestial delights. M42, Mars showed wonderful detail in the 5" Takahashi and in a 17" dob (with off-axis masking), M41, M46, M81 and M82, M65 and M66 with (much to my surprise) the companion NGC3628, and many other objects.
Finally, about 11:30, the crowds had gone home, as had many of the scopes. Although there was some haziness that night, making the sky brighter than it might otherwise be from that location, all who were there agreed that for an in-town site, it was worth coming back to. We will hold another star party there on April 11, and I expect the comet fever will have reached maximum brilliance by then.
...
Soon this comet will pass, remembered fondly for its beauty and how it for
a moment stimulated the public's imagination and interest in astronomy,
and we will return to the normal craziness of summer time observing at
Fremont Peak. Just a few more weekends until then.
I think the next dark sky TAC event will not be until the comet passes. Peace and quite are beginning to sound like a nice companion.
Clear skies,
Mark Wagner
The Astronomy Connection (TAC)
From: Tony Cecce, Corning, NY CECCE_AJ@CORNING.COM
Date: Fri, 28 Mar 1997 11:16:40 -0500 (EST)
Subject: Hale-Bopp ion tail
Observing Report
March 27, 1997
Caton/Corning NY
We had a wonderful night to observe the comet here in Corning New York thursday evening. I started off the night taking some tripod shots of the comet over a small pond, with its reflection plainly visible in the surface of the dark water. I ended up at the Collins Observatory at around 8:00 pm as full darkness fell.
I was surprised by the number of cars in the parking lot, with a steady stream of visitors travelling to and from the observatory at the top of the hill. I was greeted at the top by a huge crowd gathered in the observing field, large groups and lines of people were at each of the instruments the observatory workers had set up. This was the most people I have ever seen at the observatory in one time. I estimate that well over 1,000 people visited the observatory that night. This is close to 1% of the total population within thirty miles. The media publicity combined with the first true spring day had everyone fired up. Above this entire scene sat the most dazzling comet I have ever seen.
The limiting magnitude in the region of the sky around the comet was about 5.0, with the glaring lights of the campus lighting up the area bright enough to read by. Despite this the comet displayed a bright, long, and wide dust tail. The ion tail, while still there was much less prominent than my last dark sky view two week earlier. The dust tail stretched about 10 degrees, while the ghostly ion trail could be followed for over 15 degrees. Through the telescope the numerous hoods were still in place, with a bright one still attached to the southern side of the nucleus. The comet was not much smaller in these conditions than what I observed a little while earlier from darker skies. I concur with the recent reports on ASTRO that the ion tail has faded in brightness, but I believe the length is still there. Could it be that the sun itself has something to do with the reduced emission glow of the ion tail?
All around the field people were comparing HB to Hyakutake. The general concensus seemed to be that while HB was much more dazzling and noticeable, Hyakutake was the more impressive for its size and beautiful gossamer tail. My personal opinion is that trying to pick my favorite between the two would be like trying to pick my favorite out of my children, it can't be done. I must admit though that HB has to rated as the greater of the two comets just for its availability to everyone, including city dwellers. I have had several people report they "discovered" HB without looking for it or even knowing it was there. This never happened with Hyakutake.
I took numerous shots of the comet with various lenses. I have a feeling the best shots will be the ones through my 28mm lens. Hopefully I captured the crowd in the observing field and the dome with the comet hanging above them. You have to love a comet where the prefered optical element is a wide angle lens.
Best luck for good weather and I hope everyone gets a chance to view this visitor. That includes wishes for a lasting brightness that will allow our southern friends a chance to see it also.
Tony Cecce,
Corning, NY
From: David Emigh emigh@APOLLO.COMMNET.EDU
Date: Thu, 27 Mar 1997 12:43:18 -0500
Subject: Ephemerides for the UFO following Hale-Bopp?
Estic disgustat amb tots els que observeu el cometa i no doneu coordenades per l'OVNI que el segueix. Em sembla una conspiració ;-)
David Emigh
Assoc. Prof. of Natural Sciences QVCTC
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From: Brian Halbrook (bhalbroo@mich.com) Date: Mon, 24 Mar 1997 12:31:28 -0400 Subject: Un eclipse perfecte i un cometa meravellós |
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(NOTE... For those of you reading this outside of my local region... I live on the south shore of Lake Superior in the Upper Peninsula of the State of Michigan, USA. We have currently broken our record for snowfall.... we have over 36-inches of snow on the ground in most places. It basically still looks and feels like deep winter here.) Mike Beauchamp and I packed up his van and headed east last night (3-23-97) with a thermos of coffee and couple of bags of Hershey's Kisses....(the almond ones are best by the way...) Our mission? To photograph a comet 4.5 degrees above the icepack of Lake Superior during a deep partial lunar eclipse. We were loaded for bear.... Earlier that day I had purchased a Marine Cell battery to power Mike Beacco's borrowed C-8 which we were using as a camera platform. We had also tinkered with the scope's motor system to avoid the tracking problems I had encountered earlier this month. We felt confident that everything would work... (fingers crossed) We were going to locate a spot along the Lake that was plowed-accessible with little interference from car lights or yardlights (more finger crossing). We stopped by the Chocolay Township scenic turnouts just east of Harvey, MI and took a couple of quick tripod shots of the comet high in the twilit/moonlit sky with the lights of Marquette on the horizon. Twenty Five minutes later we found the destination of our quest.... Just to the west of the frozen summer tourist town of AuTrain there was a plowed scenic turnout that had some tree buffer from the highway and NO streetlights (yay!). It also included a few lone pine trees that could be used as foreground objects in some tripod shots. Setup went quickly and uneventfully. We drift-aligned the mount confirmed the telescope was working and realized it was still an hour before the critical hour. By this time our fingers were frosted and our feet beginning to chill. (the temperature had crashed quite quickly...it felt near-zero-F already) We ran to the Van, started the engine and regenerated our bodies with car-warmth, hot coffee and chocolate. From the van windows we were able to view the early stages of the eclipse. About 60-minutes before the mid-eclipse we decided to brave the cold and get the cameras set for our photo-run. We had already adapted the scope with 2 piggyback mounts so that 2-cameras could be mounted on the scope. I placed my OM-1n with a Zuiko 200mmF4 lens on one while Mike placed his venerable Yashica with a 240mm f4 lens on the other. I suddenly noted that the scope was too high to actually view through the camera viewfinders with the scope pointing almost due north (we had brought nothing along that we could stand on). We quickly scrambled to lower the tripod legs but found that one of the legs could not be moved due to the cold temperatures having expanded or contracted the metal leg in such a way to make it immovable. So we quickly reextended the other two moveable legs, and re-drift-aligned. We ended up slightly adjusting the orientation of the camera alignment to allow me to view through my camera. By having Mike make the tightening adjustments to the ballhead while I craned my neck to get the camera framed...we were able to get both cameras framed and we were underway. (whew!) This put us a couple of minutes behind schedule...but we were ok. Mike guided the first 15-minute exposure while I moved around with my other Om2n camera body taking a few tripod shots with 1000-speed Royal gold. (we had 640 PJM in the other 2 bodies) The change in the sky was dramatic during mid-eclipse. There were MANY more stars visible. The comet, despite its low altitude, sported a 10-degree dust tail and a 12-14 degree ion tail to the naked eye! I guided the next 7-minute run with 135mm f2.8 lenses on the two scope-mounted cameras. I then guided one more 5-minute exposure with my Bronica medium format camera which had Kodak PMZ1000 film loaded. When we finished with the comet photography I quickly slapped my OM1n onto the C-8's prime focus for a few quick shots of the still-90-percent eclipsed moon. We quickly packed up and were home a little after 1:00 am. Hopefully some images will be shortly forthcoming. (more fingers crossed again) |
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snailmail: PO Box 761 Marquette, MI 49855 (USA)
46degN 87degW
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From: Karl A. Matz (karl.matz@mankato.msus.edu) Date: Fri, 21 Mar 1997 08:36:02 -0600 Subject: De la boca dels infants - Una història curta del cometa |
"Hola:
No volia que les meves filles es perdessin el Cometa del Segle (la gran és fora de casa, per estudis), de manera que les vaig treure a fora perquè el veiessin.
La de 14 anys, mirant amb els binocles: Aaaaalaaaaa! De què està feta la cua? Per què no es fon quan s'acosta al Sol? De què està fet? etc. etc. etc.
La de 4 anys, després de mirar per l'ocular del meu telescopi de 20 cm: mamà, mamà, he vist el vòmit!"
(nota del traductor: en anglès, cometa es pronuncia komit)
Hi:
I didn't want my two remaining daughters to miss the Comet of the century
(the eldest is away at school) so I took them out one at a time.
14 year old with Binocs : Coooooolllll! What's the tail made of, why doesn't
it melt when it gets to the Sun, what is it made of ... etc etc etc.
4 year old after peering though the eyepiece of my 8" reflector: MOMMY
MOMMY I saw the VOMIT!
Dr.
Karl A. Matz
Department of Curriculum and Instruction
Mankato (MN) State University
Ramón Coll
18 Març 1997
Des d'un bon observatori
Tornava de Bèlgica en avió. Vam passar per sobre de París quan començava a fer-se fosc. Cap a ponent, encara s'hi veia el resplandor de la posta de Sol. Llavors, van tancar els llums i el pilot ens va dir cap on haviem de mirar per veure el cometa.
Es veia magnífic, amb la cua molt brillant! Feia dies que intentava localitzar-lo, a les sis de la matinada i al vespre, sense éxit. En arribar a Barcelona, l'avió va donar una gran volta per sobre del mar, per encarar la pista del Prat, i vaig tornar a veure'l amb claredat, malgrat que ja era molt baix. Eren quarts de deu.
Ramón Coll
Naiad 418456@cienz.unizar.es
Mon, 17 Mar 1997 08:51:35 +0100.
[ASTRO] Notícia INcreible: He vist el HALE-BOPP !!!!! : )
Hola:
Sí, ja ho sé... és una vergonya que jo, com administrador de la llista, encara no hagués vist el Hale-Bopp, però JA L'HE VIST !!!!
Vaig anar a casa de la meva avia, que encara que hi viu al bell mig de la ciutat (Saragossa) té la terrassa suficientment alta como per evitar (al menys) els llums del centre...
QUIN COMETOOOOOOOOOON !!!!!!! ÉS INCREIBLE !!!!
Vaig fer un petit dibuix de la meva observació amb els binocles 8x-20x (zoom) i 50 mm d'obertura.
El nucli era molt dens i tenía una petita nebulosa al voltant... dins del nucli, a més del la part central, vaig veure dos petits punts al sud de la imatge (no el sud real : ) com si fossin dos petits nuclis separats del gran... podría tractar-se perfectament d'un defecte òptic (molta contaminació atmosfèrica, proximitat a l'horitzó, binocles "cascats") ... per aixó m'agradaría que algú em digués si existeixen aquests dos "petits nuclis".
També vaig veure que la cua del cometa principal era molt tènue, i que la cua de veritat estava girada uns 15-20 graus cap el sud de la imatge i que després anava cap a la direcció correcta per una cua cometària (direcció oposada al Sol)... ho vaig veure bé o m'ho vaig imaginar ??? jejejeje : )
Respecte a la magnitud: car no tinc massa equip, em vaig animar a fer un càlcul aproximat per comparació amb altres estels, i vaig arribar a la conclusió de que el NUCLI, sense incloure la resta del cometa, tenía magnitud semblant a la de Betelgeuse, d'Orió.
Només vull afegir que em va semblar que aquest cometa té menys cua que el Hyakutake (més o menys, el Hale-Bopp tenia a ull nu uns 1,5 graus, i amb 20x vaig veure prop de 2 graus)... però el nucli és MOLT més dens que el del Hyakutake...
Espero que la Setmana Santa sigui tan bestial com les efemèrides pronostiquen...
Hale-Bopp: un 10 !!!! : )
Salu2,
Naiad
'''
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ooO Ooo
From: JOHN LEPPERT denebobs@utma.com
Date: Wed, 12 Mar 1997 10:23:48 -0800
Subject: Comet Hale-Bopp observation reports
MARCH 11. I awoke to a clear sky at half past four and reached the observatory at ten of five. The view in the northeast was stunning. Comet Hale- Bopp, not unlike witnessing a total solar eclipse, is really beyond ones ability (or certainly mine) to describe --- best left to experience visually and emotionally. That stated, unfortunately, language is all I've got.
This evening, I again viewed the comet over a period of several hours with binoculars from the comfort of the house, first locating it within 40 minutes of sunset with the naked eye (20.1o altitude and 309.7o in azimuth), and an hour later at 8 o'clock in a nearly dark sky (13.1o and 319.0o, respectively). At 9 o'clock thin cloud was seen to occasionally obscure and than uncover it in rapid fashion, skidding across the coma from the west and than appearing to ripple along the length of its tail. As the coma disappeared the cloud was back-lighted by the bright nucleus nearly giving a view similar to that seen in the Orion nebula. The whole effect was really quite lovely. My last view at half past ten, was of the comet framed on either side by two large spruce trees while the horizon was aglow in the diffuse light of a developing aurora at 1.5o altitude and 344.9o in azimuth.
MARCH 12. I awoke at half past four to find the comet high in the northeast and last night's aurora still active across the northern horizon and nearly reaching upwards to the brilliant coma. The diffuse arcing light and the comet appeared of about equal brightness and both remained so until twilight overtook the splendid sight. Since the SCT is out of commission for my taking photographs, I again opted for the comfort of a chair, the tripod mounted 8x56 binoculars, and making a drawing in the calm 2oF late winter air. The field offered a stunning sight of perhaps forty or more suns, among them were three bright stars, two at 4.5 magnitude and the other at 5.1 magnitude (6, 11 and 13 Lacertae, respectively).
John Leppert
Deneb Observatory 48o 56' 07"N 99o 09' 40" W
Antoni Parra aparra1@pie.xtec.es
9 de març.
Sembla un somni
Aquesta vegada vam sortir de Barcelona més tard, a les 4:15 a.m. A mida que anavem pujant al Montseny el veiem progresivament millor. La cua es veia clarament des de dins del cotxe.
Vam arribar a Santa Fe quan eren dos quarts de sis, més o menys.
No ens quedava massa temps de cel fosc. Feia millor temperatura que la
vegada anterior: quatre sota zero.
Sembla mentida que es pogués veure tan gran i tan bé. Amb binocles 9x63 es distingien perfectament les dues cues. La cua iònica es podia seguir fins que es confonia amb el Camí de Sant Jaume. Ara que ho recordo em sembla un somni.
Aquesta vegada volia fer algunes fotos amb seguiment equatorial, mitjançant un muntatge casolà que sembla dissenyat pel profesor Franz de Copenhagen, però que és molt efectiu: el motor és un despertador de corda i la transmissió funciona amb esparadrap. Quan ho vaig tenir tot preparat ja començava a clarejar. Massa tard. Les nits es van fent més i més curtes a mida que s'acosta la primavera.
Quan tornem?
Toni
Desde Santa Fe del Montseny
From: Victor R. Ruiz rvr@idecnet.com
Date: Sun, 9 Mar 1997 08:51:48 +0000
Subject: Observación Hale-Bopp
9.24 mar 1997, m1= 0.1, Cua=8 graus, GC=7... A ull nu...Victor R. Ruiz (Illes Canaries) [MALE=6.5.
Vaig pensar que el motor del telescopi bellugava la imatge... però les ones eren de debó! Es veien al menys quatre o cinq. Brollen del nucli com si fossin un dibuix de ones de ràdio o TV, a la banda il.luminada del nucli. (S/C 8" 200x). La cua era clarament visible fins i tot amb el cel totalment blanc -o blau-, mitja hora abans de la sortida del sol. El cometa no va pujar més enllà de 25 graus sobre l'horitzó.
--------------------------------------------- Víctor R. Ruiz rvr@idecnet.com Agrupación Astronómica de Gran Canaria Sociedad de Meteoros y Cometas de España http://ccdis.dis.ulpgc.es:8086/AAGC/aagc.html ---------------------------------------------
From: Fran Soberanas fran@REDESTB.ES
Date: Sat, 8 Mar 1997 13:59:50 +0100
Subject: Hale Bop al vespre
Salutacions a tots!
Aquest és el meu primer missatge a Astro_Espana. Només
volía comentar que ahir divendres 7 de març vaig poguer veure
el cometa al vespre. Vaig tenir que sortir a un turó que hi ha a
les rodalies de Pamplona, per evitar la contaminació lluminosa...
valia la pena! El cometa ja es veia cap a les 18:45 UT, molt baix sobre
l'horitzó nord-oest. El vaig poguer veure durant uns 45 minuts,
i després ja era massa baix.
L'aspecte que ofereix és espectacular: ja m'estic frotant les mans per quan arribi al final de mes. A ull nu s'hi veuen uns 2-3 graus de cua. I aixó que a aquesta hora el cel no és fosc del tot.
Animeu-vos a observar-lo des d'avui mateix. No teniu excuses de que cal matinar :-)
Ara bé: si el que voleu és fer fotos, encara caldrà matinar una semaneta més.
Salutacions i feliç observació!
-------------------------------------------------------------- Fran Soberanas fran@redestb.es http://www.redestb.es/personal/fran ICQ: 410711 ---------------------------------------------------------------
From: Victor R. Ruiz rvr@idecnet.com
Date: Tue, 4 Mar 1997 06:47:22 +0000
Subject: Obs. Hale-Bopp 4.25 mar 1997 - Negativo
He observat el Hale-Bopp fa uns instants amb un telescopi newton de 110mm, a 32x i NO HE VIST cap senyal de fragmentació per cap lloc.
Per altra banda, el cometa està de por. La cua comença a ser molt brillant i ha incrementat el seu esclat considerablement des de la meva darrera observació, el 20 de febrer de 1997. Amb el telescopi, la visió és magnífica, amb una cua-raig que brolla del nucli i és desviada cap enrera pel vent solar :)
1997 Feb 4.25 TU, m1= 0.5, Coma=20', Cua=2 graus...SV...Víctor R. Ruiz (Gran Canaria) [MALE=4.0-4.5. Els cirrus van dificultar l'observació. Molt més brillant que Altair i una mica menys que Vega. Magnitud no corregida].
Bona nit... d'observació, naturalment.
--------------------------------------------- Víctor R. Ruiz rvr@idecnet.com Agrupación Astronómica de Gran Canaria Sociedad de Meteoros y Cometas de España http://ccdis.dis.ulpgc.es:8086/AAGC/aagc.html ---------------------------------------------
From: Michael Boschat andromed@ATM.DAL.CA
Date: Mon, 3 Mar 1997 05:41:27 -0400
Subject: Comet Hale-Bopp Morning sky Mar.3,1997 @ 0845 UT
Hello Observers!:
Description:
Biking to the University I saw Hale-Bopp with the naked-eye as a bright white comet and a 3 degree tail pointing towards the middle of Cygnus. Upon arriving I quickly got my binoculars and looked at the comet as clouds began to approach. I was struck by the bright white color and in the 10x50 I could see a 5 degree tail and with averted vision moving up beyond the brighter part another 2 degree of tail.
The nucleus appeared like a "bar", roughly in an NNE-SSW position it was not a point nucleus as with Hyakutake.
I took my glasses off and saw blobby stars and the comet, using that I put the comet near Vega's magnitude 0.0. It was brighter than Deneb and Altair. It may be close to Capella, but it was not seen.
It's fun to see the comet in the morning sky AND evening sky!
Clear skies
_________________________________________________________________ Michael Boschat ( Astronomer ) E-mail: andromed@atm.dal.ca Atmospheric Sciences Phone: (902) 494-7060 Dept. of Oceanography FAX: (902) 494-2885 Dalhousie University Halifax, Nova Scotia CANADA, B3H 4J1 ASTRONOMY Web Page: http://www.atm.dal.ca/~andromed
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From: George Zay GeoZay@aol.com Date: Sun, 2 Mar 1997 10:05:24 -0500 (EST) Subject: Hale/Bopp Observation Mar 2 ZAYGE |
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March 2, 1997 The weather man was wrong...at least from yesterdays initial forecast...it was clear this morning....but I guess not for long. Anyhow, I got up at 02:30 so that I could head out to my Descanso observatory and take some pictures of Hale/Bopp. The comet cleared a saddle in the distant hills at around 04:10...I started my first of 2 exposures at 04:15...a 30 minute exposure with Black and white T-max 400. Afterwards...I quickly swapped cameras and made a 26 minute exposure with Fuji color 400 film. I used my 10"SCT to do the guiding and my 200mm lens at f/3.5 to make the photographs. There were no wind at all...Sky LM near 5.6 and clear. Hopefully I'll have something worthwhile? I will try to develop the black and white image this evening from work. Before I did my camera work, I was able to get some good looking thru my 14X100 binoculars. The comet is definitely getting bright. I estimated it's magnitude to be at +0.4...midway between Vega and Altair. I measured the comets dust tail at 3 degrees. This mornings view of the ion tail was the first time that I was able to see it with ease and for any appreciable length...I give the ion tail at least 5 degrees...and it looked ghostly all by itself on the northern side. I had the feeling that if it was darker, I would have been able to see it extend for at least another 3 or 4 degrees with no trouble at all. The same jet is still to the south east...kinda like a big bright fan streaming off the nucleus. It appears to me as one big jet...but it could be more than one that appears merged? George Zay |
From: George Zay GeoZay@aol.com
Date: Sat, 1 Mar 1997 11:45:25 -0500 (EST)
Subject: Hale/Bopp Observation Mar 1 ZAYGE
I went inside to write my description...Afterwards at 05:15 it was still dark. I couldn't resist the temptation to go back out for a 2nd look. I haven't had this urge since Mar 26 with Hyakutake. I guess you can say it's now at the "AWE" stage.
Mar 1, 1997 0430 hrs PST
From my workplace in La Mesa, Ca. under clear skies that were 4.8, I was able to see comet Hale/Bopp once again...WOW!!
What a difference a few days make. It's been about 4 or 5 days since I had a relatively decent look and it's noticeably changed. First, I had no difficulty at all in being able to see the tail with the naked eye. It's not very long, but easy to see.
In regards to the comet's magnitude, I first compared it with Deneb (+1.3)...the comet was much brighter. I then compared with Altair (0.8) and I can see it's now brighter than it. I estimate the comet's magnitude to be around 0.6 or 0.7. I made this estimate with my 7X50 binoculars.
Thru the 14X100's, the first thing that got my attention was how bright that South Eastern jet appeared. It seemed broad and massive as it curved straight back to form the bright dust tail on the south side. On the northside I can see the relatively dimmer ion tail sweeping back not as sharply. It's more of a broad sweep that eventually narrows. It's also pointing more towards the North than the southern tail is. The bright southern tail also seems to be bisecting a short, dim broad tail area not far from the nucleus. Measuring with my binoculars 3.3 degree field, I estimate the longest tail length that I can see is at about 3.1 degrees. I can barely see a separation of the two tails, although that gap is quite narrow and far back from the nucleus.
Next I tried to examine the nucleus with the 14X100's. It appears stellar to me...that is I see no bar shape that's been reported by some others. Maybe if I tried including that southerly jet I'd get a bar shape? But separately I don't see it...just circular and stellar.
I went inside to write my description...Afterwards at 05:15 it was still dark. I couldn't resist the temptation to go back out for a 2nd look. I haven't had this urge since Mar 26 with Hyakutake. I guess you can say it's now at the "AWE" stage.
George Zay
La Mesa, Ca
32 North 116 West
