Posted on 12/08/2021 3:32:10 PM PST by MtnClimber
Explanation: Comet Hale-Bopp, the Great Comet of 1997, became much brighter than any surrounding stars. It was seen even over bright city lights. Away from city lights, however, it put on quite a spectacular show. Here Comet Hale-Bopp was photographed above Val Parola Pass in the Dolomite mountains surrounding Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy. Comet Hale-Bopp's blue ion tail, consisting of ions from the comet's nucleus, is pushed out by the solar wind. The white dust tail is composed of larger particles of dust from the nucleus driven by the pressure of sunlight, that orbit behind the comet. Comet Hale-Bopp (C/1995 O1) remained visible to the unaided eye for 18 months -- longer than any other comet in recorded history. The large comet is next expected to return around the year 4385. This month, Comet Leonard is brightening and may soon become visible to the unaided eye.
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Their fearless/crazy leader.
Keep your eyes open for a long cat linked in the explanation.
What great time that was! We had hundreds of people at our club’s observatory.
Hale-Bopp and Hyakutaki made for two great years of astronomy!
After the let downs of Kohoutek and Halley’s comet, I thought comets were just things I’d never see with my real eyes. Then there was Hale-Bopp. I remember it splashed across the sky driving home from work, the sun’s light having barely gone, and long into the night. Big and bright enough to have amazed everyone alive 100 years ago, but lost on the TV viewing populous of today. I told everyone you’ll never see anything like this for the rest of your life. Most didn’t seem to care.
>Their fearless/crazy leader
Doh!
That was creepy. And they committed mass suicide.
Yes that’s the one.
The very same one.
You should see some of the YouTube videos of them before the suicide. Applewhite took creepy to a new level.
Today he’d be just another typical progressive.
Long cat iz long...
Not very many people know this, but D’Oh / Applewhite was one half of the mid-70s UFO cult-couple “Bonnie and Herff”. His relationship with Bonnie was supposedly 100% platonic, but I have my doubts. The expression on his face speaks of tiger-print undies, swinging from the chandeliers, and cries for help. :-)
Most people are like that it seems-not interested in what’s “out there”.
The wonders of the universe. People that do come out to our observatory want to know what is out there, and they don’t leave disappointed (unless it’s cloudy).🔭🙂
I filmed hale bopp in the desert at Ft. Irwin with night vision and caught a meteor bisecting the tail.
I was so cool
(I filmed hale bopp in the desert at Ft. Irwin with night vision and caught a meteor bisecting the tail).
The meteor was just icing on the cake. There were a lot of viewing opportunities for Hale-Bopp. On the morning of Feb. 22, 1997, I observed concentric circles around the coma and the comet was sporting a prominent southern jet (using a nine-inch a Celestron).
The U.S. Naval Observatory reported later that the southern jet looked like a corkscrew because the jet was located near the southern polar axis and the nucleus (estimated to be 30 miles in diameter) was rotating at a pretty good clip.
But the best viewing was in April when Hale-Bopp appeared in the evening sky with an apparent magnitude approaching -1. The year before, on April 3, 1996, during a total lunar eclipse, I observed the tail of comet Hyakutake spanning three-quarters of the sky. That night the moon rose fully engulfed in the Earth’s shadow.
Two great comets that crossed paths in the sky near Algol (Perseus) exactly one year apart, on April 11, spectacular.
-Frank
night vision made the tail 10X longer..
Yes, it was quite a stretch. But no one without an interest in that vastness out there would ever see kitty.
One observes and gets to really contemplating.
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