Comets

[telscope@xxxxxxxxxx (Peter Abrahams)]

*I got to thinking about a discussion back in the fall about the
*Hale-Bopp comet. After an initial flurry of speculation about
*the brightness, I've not heard anything for awhile (and our
*newsreader is down).
Hale - Bopp is now magnitude 8.6, 10 times fainter than a 
naked eye object.  It is in Sagittarius, near the Teapot.  It continues
to brighten, and  will be a dramatic sky object in 12 months, if no cynical
self-doubters cast aspersions on its potential.
Comet Hyakutake should be mag +1 (brighter than a bright star, but that 
amount of light spread out into a fuzzy object) during the last days of March,
an easy sighting near Polaris. Around March 23, it should be visible
near Arcturus, the bright star SE of Polaris about 10 PM those nights--
but check the astronomy news, it is raining now & it's easy to get 
turned around.  It might have a long tail, but the tail will be dim from 
a city location.
Both comets will be very photogenic, but will require a tracking device,
unless a large telescope and CCD device are used.
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telscope@xxxxxxxxxx (Peter Abrahams)          
the history of the telescope, 
     the prism binocular, and the microscope


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