(meteorobs) Re: Northern bias to meteor showers?

belatrix belatrix at ozemail.com.au
Mon Feb 5 22:36:15 EST 2007


David,
  This will sound sacreligous and strange to many (but I dont give a 
....), but myself, and a few friends actually thought our comet 
Hyakutake experience was better. That may be simply that we didnt have 
clear and sustained fantastic/dark sky views when McNaught was at its 
best  (VERY narrow window of  3-4 days!! waaaay toooo short) I mean it 
was of course INCREDIBLY AND FANTASTICALLY/FEROCIOUSLY  BRIGHT and 
GIGANTIC, but if you were one of the unlucky ones who didn't get the 
best views/weather, the impact wasnt quite the same.
  I will say its the most Photogenic Comet in a very long time, and to 
use TV ratings terminology, it certainly was in a 'prime time' viewing 
slot! But the moon was a spoiler/downer to me, bah! not the first time 
either, part of being a 'great comet' is having favourable moon phases 
all the way, or so I thought. I am not 'whining' or 'whinging'  I/we 
loved it all of course, and am EXTREMELY grateful to have seen what I 
seen, and naturally would like to see that happen on a regular basis. 
But for some of us, we might as well been in the NH at the time of 
greatest viewing :P.
Give me those 'midnight comets' anytime :) the twilight ones are hard 
yakka, and I am starting to really despise horizon cloud.
As one long-time observing/imaging friend described it, Hyakutake was 
like a snuggly fluffy soft comet, that you could curl up and go to 
sleep on (except for all the CO! - cough) - (mmmm snuggly sleepy 
bedding down for the night /sandman noises here) were as McNaught was 
kind of harsh/scary and foreboding/intimidating/unfriendly/mindblowing, 
but impressive/commanding in the extreme, to us.
But our viewing circumstances/experiences could be colouring our 
impressions, but then they always do, don't they.
I sound a bit bitter and twisted for it? LOL mebbe I am :D it was an 
exercise in frustration for many, I suspect. not a nice feeling, kinda 
leaves a bit of a bad taste in your mouth!?!
Cheers
Kearn


On 06/02/2007, at 1:52 AM, David Stine wrote:

> I would give you all the meteor showers we northerners had this year,
> Taurids, Lyrids, Leonids, Perseids, and Geminids for your Comet 
> McNaught
> that we just got an inkling of how great a comet it was.
>
> Comet - 1
> David in Tulsa, OK
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: meteorobs-bounces at meteorobs.org
> [mailto:meteorobs-bounces at meteorobs.org] On Behalf Of belatrix
> Sent: Monday, February 05, 2007 9:11 AM
> To: Global Meteor Observing Forum
> Subject: Re: (meteorobs) Re: Northern bias to meteor showers?
>


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