link to Home Page

Re: IN SYMPATHY to the Hale-Bopp Cooperative


Article: <5fagq3$jms@dfw-ixnews11.ix.netcom.com>
From: saquo@ix.netcom.com(Nancy )
Subject: Re: IN SYMPATHY to the Hale-Bopp Cooperative
Date: 2 Mar 1997 00:14:59 GMT

In article <5f7hi8$ept@news.Hawaii.Edu> David Tholen writes:
>> Chiron the asteroid was discovered when it had no coma
>> from volatiles, so it was BIG ENOUGH TO BE REFLECTING
>> SUNLIGHT, right? Thus the asteroid designation. How
>> big is Chiron estimated to be, and how does this compare to
>> the dirty snowball that Hale-Bopp is being called?
>
> They could be comparable. The size for Hale-Bopp isn't well
> known.
> tholen@galileo.ifa.hawaii.edu

(Begin ZetaTalk[TM])
Oh come now! We've had the supposed size of Hale-Bopp tossed around during the early days to support the reason for its behavior during 1995 and appearance on a 1993 image of McNaught’s. None of this was believable unless the mythical Hale-Bopp, which in those days was a nova which was being pointed to, was HUGE. Now that all those rotating pinwheels and bright chunks of matter separating from the indeterminate head of this supposed comet have STOPPED, all chatter about its huge size has ceased.

Not that much time has passed, David, for the public to have forgotten. Give us some statistics, some quoted numbers from the IAU or NASA or JPL, regarding the speculation on Hale-Bopp's size, please do! Or is the public supposed to forget, at this time, and just dutifully watch the moving pictures that JPL has prepared.
(End ZetaTalk[TM])