Ohio finally saw the stars again, on the morning of the 29th, and I was able to have a bleary eye-ed, why-do-I-leave-the-comfort-and- warmth-of-my-bed look at Hale-Bopp. As others have noted, it does seem rather star-like to the naked eyes.....or rather to my naked eyes, but is obviously a q-tip of a comet through binoc's. Looks rather +2.5-ish to me. Gregg http://pages.prodigy.com/daddy