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Re: (meteorobs) Hale/Bopp Obser CURMA
Lew,
> Thanks for some enticing observations of H-B, Malcolm. By the way, what are you trying to image there at NOT? (And by the way, I wasn't even aware that you were a professional observationalist!) Clear skies,
Imaging of elliptical and dwarf elliptical galaxies in the Virgo
Cluster and Leo-I group of galaxies. The aim is to obtain the light
profiles to understand the physics and use them as distance
indicators. We've trying to unravel the structure of the Virgo
Cluster. This cluster has been pivotal in distance-scale work, but we
believe that there is considerable line-of-sight depth (probably due
to foreground and background groups). They do let me out rarely to do
some real astronomy instead of software.
It was hard to estimate H-B's tail length due to the structure and
brightness of the Milky Way in which is was situated. I reckoned
about 2 degrees with the naked eye. Also saw a fireball on Feb. 17
05:51:02+/-3 indirectly, due to the illiumination of the ground. I
was observing H-B. At first I thought it was due to the headlights of
some approaching car. No car visible. The ground grew brighter for
perhaps 3--4 seconds, then it dimmed briefly before the panorama was
floodlit. It was as if there was a full moon for a second or so.
There was another shorter flash, before the ground returned to
darkness. Now I was nestled close to the NOT dome looking east, and
down into the WHT dome and surroundings. My guess from the shadows is
that it travelled from the north west to the south east or east
passing close to the zenith. Perhaps had I looked up, I'd would have
seen the terminal flash. C'est la vie. The sky counts for the 300s
exposure I took were increased about 20% from neighbouring
integrations. Also soon after that I had a meteor captured in one of
my CCD frames. It passed within a couple of arcseconds of the nucleus
of my target galaxy, so I had to redo the intgration!
Malcolm
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