Re: Comet Hyakutake

[John W Roberts <roberts@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>Date: Sat, 23 Mar 1996 23:03:01 -0600
>From: George Snowdon <gsnowdon@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>Subject: Comet Hyakutake

>Last I heard, the comet is moving at about 20 degrees a day,
>so that it would move about one degree in an hour.
>That's really moving along, I believe, in astronomy terms.  Maybe
>people should try pictures at intervals of two or three or four 
>hours, and then they will get a more pronounced stereo effect.

The interval should depend on the magnification (if any) used. At 16x,
the comet moves noticeably with respect to the background stars in less than
half an hour.

>   For just viewing Hyakutake, 7X binoculars are great.  

Direct viewing is also fine. The cloud around the nucleus is very distinct.
The tail is very faint (without a time exposure), but apparently that's stanard
for comets.

John R


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