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(meteorobs) Hale-Bopp Still Fine
My wife Lynne and I went to Marshall, Virginia last night to see the comet. We
saw a 12 degree dust tail and a 15 degree ion tail, which was longer for both
than a week before, but the comet overall was a little dimmer at -0.7 magnitude.Also, the ion tail was harder to see visually. It looked like a disconnection
event in the ion tail about 2 degrees up from the head. The bow shock feature
was dimmer. However, the nuclear condensation was still at about 0 magnitude.
Lynne and I shot a roll of 400 film with the OM-1 on a tripod. We saw the comet
with the 12x63 and 8x50 binoculars. I saw a nice 3rd magnitude yellow-orange
meteor going horizontally toward the north, just under the handle of the Big
Dipper. Spring Peepers nearby helped set the mood. The limiting magnitude was
about 6.1 that night, and the Zodiacal Light could be seen just below the
lovely Pleiades.
GWg