Comet Hyakutake

[wier@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Bob Wier)]

I thought I'd forward on the following from the astronomy USENET
group regarding the upcoming comet event. One posting I saw suggested
that on March 25th, the motion of the comet against the stellar background
will be easily visible. Certainly worth a trip outside for a look, and
maybe a little stereo astro photography experimentation if one were so
inclinded....

I just went outside (3 am local) and found it in about 10 seconds
with some binoculars (assuming that was it, and not a nebula).
The waning moon was still behind the mountains, but was lighting
up what clouds were drifting by, give a slightly washed out sky.
It's quite near (binocular wise) to the star ZUBENELGENUBI in
the constellation Libra. If you can find Scorpius, imagine a line
extending up thru the body at a right angle to the pincers, across
the sky perhaps two fists wide (when held out at arm's length).
To the right and up from Scorpius (this is from approx 40 degrees
north Latitude in the USA).

By comparison I found this a LOT easier than I found Halley 10
years (almost exactly) ago...

THANKS
--BoB Wier  wier@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

=====================forwarded message=============================


COMET HYAKUTAKE VIEWING HINTS & TIPS

I've created a new section on my Comet Hyakutake home page that has viewing
tips for this exciting comet which will make a near-Earth flyby on March 25.
Included are general viewing tips, how to observe the comet, and
astrophotography tips.  The URL for the home page is:

http://newproducts.jpl.nasa.gov/comet/hyakutake/


      ___    _____     ___
     /_ /|  /____/ \  /_ /|     Ron Baalke         | baalke@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
     | | | |  __ \ /| | | |     Jet Propulsion Lab |
  ___| | | | |__) |/  | | |__   Pasadena, CA       | It is only the optimists
 /___| | | |  ___/    | |/__ /|                    | who achieve anything in
 |_____|/  |_|/       |_____|/                     | this world.

--- wier@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ----




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