(meteorobs) Hale Bopp

To: meteorobs@latrade.com
Subject: (meteorobs) Hale Bopp
From: Ron Rennie <astron@earthlinkdot net>
Date: Sun, 16 Feb 1997 21:17:14 -0800 (PST)
Reply-To: meteorobs@latrade.com
Sender: owner-meteorobs

Hi All

I made a visit this weekend to the desert north of Mojave with a couple
friends to observe Comet Hale Bopp, which was only partly succesful.   It
was clear skies at lunchtime when I left home but there was a very thin
layer of high cloud when I arrived at the site.    After sunset the moon had
quite a halo and all the stars looked like comets.   At 10PM we decided that
the skyglow was too much and decided to turn in until 3AM and see if
conditions were any better then.   The moon had, of course, set by then but
the sky still had an overall haze, nevertheless, we could make out Hale Bopp
as a naked eye object at about magnitude 1.5.   Through my 15x80 binoculars
it was more revealing with a bright blue coma an a split tail which
disappeared into the haze at about 1.1/2 degrees.  At  5AM, just before
sunrise,  HB had risen a further 30 degrees and was looking much more
spectacular and sported a tail that almost filled the 3.1/2 degree field of
my binoculars.   By 10AM dark gray clouds completely covered the sky which
looked as though they intended to hang around for some time, so we didn't
stay for the second night we had planned.

Overall, I was pleased with what I saw beacuse it looks as though HB is
going to be quite spectacular and the New Moons of March and April should
give some rewarding viewing.

Best wishes 

Ron