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Article: <5htqqj$hkc@dfw-ixnews7.ix.netcom.com>
From: saquo@ix.netcom.com(Nancy)
Subject: Re: Nancy and DejaNews
Date: 2 Apr 1997 14:34:59 GMT
In article <5hd0mu$2ek@nntp1.u.washington.edu> Lamont Granquist writes:
>> Not so! Here's some postings from sci.astro.amateur during
>> May, 1996. If you put the current Orbital Elements for
>> Hale-Bopp guiding these amateurs, you'll find as I did that
>> when the orbit lined up with a star cluster, they SAW
>> Hale-Bopp, but when it was tracking across black space,
>> they DID NOT FIND Hale-Bopp.
>
> I just loaded this into xephem, and found that it did not cross any
> NGC or Messier object of greater than 10th magnitude within
> 10 degrees of the sky. Only towards the end of June was it
> getting anywhere near to the open cluster M11 and M26 and
> still they were a good 4 degrees away on the 27th (initially they
> were some 15+ degrees away).
> lamontg@nospam.washington.edu
What Orbital Elements were you using? For early May you must use the ones given by NASA on 22-Feb-96, and for early June the ones given by JPL on 28-May-96, NOT the current orbit, Solution 99 or whatever. Not the comments given by the amateur which are a clue to WHAT orbit they are following. Don't reinvent history, look at what ACTUALLY happened.
Please note that in late May the amateurs report SEEING a comet, and Charles Morris's May 29 defense of HIS seeing it when it was lined up with a double star at that time. Then in early June, when it was between star clusters they don't find it! Late June the orbit moves into another star cluster and bingo, they "find" it again! Notice the June 27th comment on Hale-Bopp having moved "away from the brighter stars" the prior week.
........
Date: 19 May 1996
I saw it yesterday morning in a good dark sky. The guy I was with said it was magnitude 7. Once you knew where to look it was not too hard to pick out with binoculars.
Date: 26 May 1996
Without the moon in the sky the Milky Way can bee seen in the constellation of Sagittarius. Limit magnitude near the comet is determined to be 5.1 magnitude. Found comet Hale-Bopp easily with binoculars. It appears as a very fuzzy nebula, without tail . The degree of condensation is estimate to be a value of 1 and size of the coma at 8.0 minutes of arc. Using the star SAO 162669 of magnitude 7.4 amd SAO 162682 of magnitude 7.9 , the comet is placed at magnitude 7.5
Date: 27 May 1996
I looked for it two nights ago with 10x50s in light polluted yet very clear skies and couldn't see it. I did see, however, Jupiter (+Gaynamede, Callisto and Europa), Ceres, Vesta, Uranus AND Neptune in one 45 minute session. Couldn't detect anything for Hale-Bopp though. I am sure if I drive to darker skies it will help ALOT though. I didn't even try to see Kopff since I figure if I couldn't see HB... - (fuel for the Zetas??? :)
Date: Mon, 27 May 1996 00:52:41 GMT
I was observing same for the two nights previously whilst on holiday in Portugal Lat 37N Long 7W with scopes 5.5 inch F3.6 and 20 inch F5 and took photographs through both. I agree with your estimate but add that the neucleus is very tight but with a low central brightness. Parabolic arcing coma condensation upwind and no apparent streaming in tail. Intergrated magnitude estimates are tricky to make at best and of little use to observers at worst.
Date: Wed, 29 May 1996 15:45:00 GMT
The people that have reported naked eye sightings of Hale-Bopp, including myself, are all experienced
observers that would not be fooled by a close double star. When I observed it (May 26 UT), I was at 7500'
at the Riverside Telescope Makers Conference. The comet was magnitude 6.6 in 10x50 B at the time.
Charles Morris
Date: 08 Jun 1996
I made a special trip up to Fremont Peak State Park (near San Juan Bautista, Calif.) to view whatever I could of the occultation of Comet Hale-Bopp and our astronomy friend, the Moon. ... From moonrise at around 0725 UT to then, I observed many fantastic lunar features along the terminator, with eyepieces giving me over 250X down to widefield 60X. ... I also observed the re-appearance of several brighter stars from the dark limb, just like in the predictions, and that double star system was just a keen sight. I was having tremendous reflection problems near the cusp, but could easily make out the edge of the dark limb as the stars completed their occultations. I keenly observed the predicted zone of the limb where the comet should re-appear, but I had no sighting it, or even a hint of it. I observed that area from 0955 UT until 1030 UT (well, after 1005, I started looking off the limb too) and no Hale-Bopp to be seen in my 10".
Date: 13 Jun 1996 22:37:58 GMT
Try a bit later. I saw it last Friday night, June 7, from the observatory at Foothill College in Los Altos, but only after 12:45; I tried twice before that, and even through the 16" I couldn't see anything (pointing at exactly the same spot where I later found it). At 12:45 I could just barely convince myself something was there in 8x30 binocs, but it was very obvious in the 16", roughly comparable in size and brightness to M81 (it's probably much better an hour later).
Date: 16 June 1996
Hale Bopp was looking good this morning in a 10" f/6.3 SCT. Easy find, upper left of Jupiter. Not sure of the magnitude..looked like 7 or 8 still a bit diffuse. However, there is some central condensation towards the nucleus and it has some similarity to Hyakutake early February. Only the slightest hint of elongation/tail. Best viewed at around 75-100 x. This was from Eastern Ma. in somewhat light polluted skies, no filter
Date: 27 Jun 1996
I was able to hold it naked eye it about 50% of the time last week after it had mocved away from the brighter stars, and also I needed to hide Jupiter from view with my hand. My sky is very dark with the zodiacal band usually fairly easy to see, and Hale-Bopp was at the zenith.