[Prev][Next][Index][Thread]
(meteorobs) Hale-Bopp Observation
From the relatively dark skies of Marshall Virginia comet Hale-Bopp
was a splendid sight last night. It had four tails, two dust tails and
two ion tails, that were all visible to the naked-eye. The ion tails
were about 12 degrees long, and the dust tails were about 10 degrees
in length. The nuclear condensation was about 0 magnitude, and the
comet's m1 magnitude was about -1st! The bow shock feature in the main
dust tail was visible to the naked-eye too. Much structure was seen
in the four tails with a 5.5-inch comet catcher and 12x63 binoculars on
a tripod. The
curved dust tails and straight ion tails were lovely. A
couple of meteors of 2nd and 3rd magnitide were also seen, but they were
both sporadic. A wonderful comet indeed.
GWG