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 : - 22º 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
Antonio Parra aparra1@pie.xtec.es
16 de febrero.
¡Por fin!
Salimos de Barcelona a las 3:45 a.m. El cielo se fue encapotando a medida que nos acercábamos al Montseny, pero continuamos. Mirando hacia el sur, hacia Barcelona, parecía que fuese a salir el Sol por allí. Estábamos huyendo, precisamente, de toda esa contaminación lumínica.
Llegamos a Santa Fe a poco más de las cinco. La luna hacía varias horas que se había puesto. Los cristales de hielo de la escarcha brillaban como estrellas al reflejar la luz frontal. El cielo estaba despejado hacia el norte, pero el resto estaba medio tapado por abundantes cirros.
Hacia el este se veía el Hale-Bopp claramente, a simple vista, incluso entre las nubes. Por suerte, tuvimos un rato de visión clara, cerca de las seis de la mañana, precisamente cuando el cometa ya estaba bastante alto sobre el horizonte y todavía estaba muy oscuro. Se veía muy bien de todas maneras: con prismáticos y con telescopio, a pequeño y a gran aumento. La cola se ve mejor con poco aumento: con los prismáticos 20x60 era impresionante.
Hice algunas fotos, pero esperaré a hacer más en próximas salidas antes de revelarlas. Después de ver las magníficas fotos con cámara Schmidt que hacen en algunos observatorios no creo que ninguna merezca la pena publicarse. Ya veremos.
Toni
Desde Santa Fe del Montseny
From: JBortle
Date: Sun, 16 Feb 1997 10:10:08 EST
Subject: Hale-Bopp on Feb. 16th
February 16.42UT: Coma's magnitude (m1) = 1.5 with unaided eye, while the nucleus appears like a 2.8 magnitude star imbedded within it. 7x50B show a 7.5 degree ion tail in p.a. 316 (NW) and a 5 degree long dust tail toward the SW. 16-inch reflector @170x shows two subsidiary nuclei or mass ejections, the first 9" from the primary nucleus in p.a.195 (S), the other 21" from the nucleus in p.a. 225 (SW). These are at opposite edges of the bright dust fountain coming off the primary nucleus. Comet followed telescopically until 14 minutes before sunrise.
J.Bortle
From: "Victor R. Ruiz" rvr@IDECNET.COM
Date: Sun, 16 Feb 1997 04:44:44 +0000
Subject: [ASTRO] Para encontrar al Hale-Bopp
Actualmente el cometa se encuentra viajando de la constelación de Sagitta a la del Cisne, en magnitud 1.3/1.7 y con una cola de 15°. Por tanto es ya más brillante que las estrellas de la Osa Mayor. La última observación de Josep María Trigo lo pone en magnitud 1.5, aunque tan sólo ha llegado a detectar 1.5° visualmente, al igual que los observadores de aquí, en Gran Canaria. Comentan por ahí que se pierde la pista de la cola en la Vía Láctea : )
El cometa a simple vista parece una estrella si no tenemos un cielo demasiado oscuro. Al contrario que el Hyakutake que se acercó mucho a la Tierra, el Hale-Bopp es mucho más condensado y posiblemente nos haga disfrutar de una cola muy brillante aunque no excesivamente larga.
Este cometa está sorprendiendo por el incremento de brillo que ha mantenido en las últimas dos semanas, lo que parece asegurar que será más brillante que el Hyakutake. Según informó Mark Kidger (IAC), la cola del Hale-Bopp se extiende ya cien millones de kilómetros, lo que para un núcleo de tan solo 40 no está nada mal. (El pasado año el Hyakutake llegó a desarrollar una cola de casi 10 millones si mis pastillas de RAM no me fallan).
Como anécdota comentar las pifias del día cometidas por el diario Canarias7. "El cometa Hale-Bopp es *muy visible*", con eco en el diario La Provincia. "como pudieron comprobar ayer los lectores de Canarias7 que publicó en exclusiva la primera foto del cometa hecha en Canarias" (... realizada hace un par de días. Luis, entonces ¿que es lo que hiciste con Máximo en agosto del 95?). "El Hale-Bopp puede observarse con ayuda de unos prismáticos entre las constelaciones de Ofiucco y Sagitario". A pesar de todo, hay que felicitar al periódico por dedicarle tres cuartos de página al cometa durante dos días seguidos: una primera y una última página. Ya podrían tomar nota los de la plataforma digital : )
Buenas noches... de observación, naturalmente.
(*) Hale-Bopp (pron. jeil bop). Dícese del cometa descubierto por Alan Hale y Thomas Bopp el 23 jul 1995. Anglicismos aceptados en la jerga de la AAGC: Ale-Bobo, Ale-Bop, Ale-Bup, Ay-Jop, Jale-Jop, Jalley-Bop, Jarrl-Bop.
Victor R. Ruiz
Agrupacion
Astronomica de Gran Canaria
Sociedad de Meteoros y Cometas de España
From: Jose Maria Soria soria@TID.ES
Date: Mon, 17 Feb 1997 09:08:38 +0100
Subject: Re: [ASTRO] Para encontrar al Hale-Bopp
Para encontrar el Hale-Boop lo que hay que hacer es mirar hacia el E-NE..., ¡y ya está!
El domingo fue perfectamente observable (Collado Villalba - Madrid) a simple vista ***hasta las 07,35h***, cuando el horizonte ya estaba tomando color anaranjado y muy pocas estrellas eran ya visibles.
Antonio Parra aparra1@pie.xtec.es
10 de febrero.
Esta vez he tenido suerte
Me levanto cada dia a las 6 de la mañana, a toda prisa, para dar un vistazo al cielo. Me visto como si fuese a esquiar. Subo al terrado, cargado con el trípode y el pequeño telescopio Celestron. Hay algo de niebla y mucha contaminación lumínica. El triángulo de verano es todo lo que se puede ver hacia el este. Altair se distingue con dificultad. Esta mañana, ya con algo de práctica, no me ha costado demasiado encontrar el cometa: imagino que el triángulo de verano es equilátero, con un lado delimitado por las estrellas Deneb y Vega; el tercer vértice es el cometa. (¡Ojo! mañana estará más a la izquierda) A veces lo localizo tomando como referencia la línea que va de Altair (alfa Aquilae) a Vega (alfa Lyrae). Cuando llego a Sagitta exploro un poco la región a pequeño aumento, y lo encuentro fácilmente. Cualquier descripción que hiciese de lo que veo sería ridícula comparada con las magníficas observaciones que puede encontrar en esta página, hechas por astrónomos profesionales con equipos maravillosos. Sólo veo el núcleo y la parte más brillante de la cabellera: los 8 minutos centrales, aproximadamente. ¡Como me gustaría verlo desde un lugar bien oscuro! ¿A alguien que viva cerca de Barcelona le gustaría hacer una salida conmigo el próximo fin de semana, si hace buen tiempo, a algún lugar adecuado -- el Montseny, por ejemplo --?
¡Suerte que no he estado mirando todo el rato por el ocular!. Me hubiese perdido uno de los bólidos más brillantes que haya visto jamás. Parecía una de las luces de vapor de mercurio de los faroles de la calle: de color blanco, verde muy brillante por la parte delantera, con una cola corta de color blanco. La trayectoria fue desde un poco más abajo y a la izquierda de Deneb hacia el horizonte: unos 10 grados en dos segundos. No oí ninguna explosión. ¿Lo ha visto alguien más?
¿Alguien me podría dar información sobre el bólido que hace una semana dijeron en el Telenotícies vespre de TV3 que cayó en en Catalunya?
Toni
Desde el terrado de mi casa en 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