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(meteorobs) Hale/Bopp Obser Feb 20 ZAYGE




Feb 20

Looking at comet Hale/Bopp this morning from my work place under clear skies
and an LM near 4.8, it is quiet obvious that the comet is getting brighter.
Comparing with Deneb at 1.3, I estimated the magniutde of the coma and
nucleus to be at 1.2. I guess the constellation to look for in finding the
comet from a relatively lighted location would be near cygnus. Actually, if
you draw lines between the stars that make up the Summer triangle (Vega,
Deneb and Altair), the brightest "star" just outside of these lines is the
comet. Anyhow, thru my 14X100's I measure the tail length at 3 degrees.

Last night I developed the black and white film from yesterday mornings (Feb
19) photographic efforts. On the negatives, the tail has taken on an even
more "V" shape than it has. The tail, although thin, extends beyond the 4
degree field of my 4" telescope. I've been only able to see one jet in all my
photograic efforts these last two weeks. It's the same active jet to the
South. I get the impression that the nucleus isn't rotating at all. On the
negative, the tail that's on the side of the jet seems to be the most
pronounced. Just the opposite to what I would expect. On the north side of
the comet's coma, the dust material seems to be spewing off in a uniformed
homogenous manner.  I see few features and structure within the tail. It
appears quiet smooth to me both thru my 4" and 10" telescope as well as
what's on my negatives. 

I've also noticed something else from yesterday's photographs compared to
those I took on the 14th. That is the comet appears to be noticeably moving
against the background stars. On the 14th, I made a 27 minute exposure with
the 4". I guided on the comet. The background stars looked almost pin point.
They had only a slight hint of trailing. On yesterdays photos, the exposure
was for 30 minutes and again I guided on the comet. The exposure time was
essentially the same. But this time the stars trailed quiet obviously. The
photos I took between those 2 dates with my 10" were too short (longest was 5
min.) to notice any star trailing. So...somethings happening. 
George Zay