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(meteorobs) Comet Hale-Bopp!!!!!!!!!!!!
I got up this morning at 5:01AM, and something strange occured: there
were no clouds in the sky! Because I am still sick, I had to observe
through the window(and also because my parents were still sleeping).
I observed through 5:51 AM, and because I have never seen Comet Hale-
Bopp, and because I did not have access to any optical besides my
glasses, I sketched 6 "white points of light" and tomorrow or the
15th I will make another sketch, and see if any of the "white points
of light" shifted position. My Limiting Magnitude was about +3(due
to the window glass). That will be "The Comet". From then until
6:15 AM, I put my observation into my Astronomical Notebook. Then I
peeked outside and saw ruddy Mars. It was about 20d above my western
horizon. There were no other"white points of light"; it was sunrise.
Then from 7:35-8:00 I watched a TV show(just felt like
it)called"Nanny and the Proffessor". It was about this 8-year-old
discovered a comet. He bought a department-store refractor and"by
chance" he saw this "brilliant comet, with a large tail". There was
several errors in the show. First, he would use his 'scope through a
window. All amatuer Astronomers know that you get a very poor image.
Second, bright lights were on in the room. You will get a terrible
light refraction. Third, he discovered it at 20:10:07, and a
proffesional astronomer discovered it at 20:10:08, so the boy would
get all the credit for discovering the comet. The error was that
both would get credit for it(Comet Hale-Bopp for instance). Fourth
and lastly, there are too many comet hunters for it to get to
probably at least 3rd magnitude. Anybody agree?
Jonathan(39.45dN -75.33dS)(NTZT04A@prodigy.com)
http://pages.prodigy.com/Astro/homepage.htm