Anyone Remember the Comet Hale-Bopp?

[frankminiaci]

Hey,
does anyone remember Great Comet of 1997 Comet Hale-Bopp?

[Carlos_dfc]

Yes - great comet.

How about the most recent spectacular comet (McNaught)
Didn't really start to 'show' much until it was very low (as seen from the Northern hemisphere) but was spectacular as seen from the Southern hemisphere
[Registered users can see links. ]

I was quite proud to get a small article I wrote about McNaught published in UK magazine 'Astronomy Now'

[admin]

Wow congrats Carlos that is a great accomplishment.

Are there any more great comets coming up soon or do i have to live a long time :P ?

[Carlos_dfc]

Problem with the truly great ones, is that they tend to be unpredictable one-offs.

There are plenty of periodic comets, every year you can see several, if you know where to look, unfortunately, they rarely get to be naked-eye visible.
However there's a few that are visible in a telescope right now- it just depends where you are, as to whether they'll be available in your sky.
There was of course, the weird and unexpected 'flaring' of '17P Holmes' late last year, but even that was no more than a faint fuzzy patch unless you had binocs or better.
'Halley' is probably the only reliable periodic that can be truly spectacular - unfortunately, it wasn't so great last time round ('86), and doesn't come back until 2061/62
My ambition is to see it when it comes back - I need to live to at least 98


The vast majority of great comets are 'sporadics', they fall in randomly from the Oort cloud, make one spectacular pass through the inner solar system, then head off back out, never to be seen again - or at least, not for several hundred years.
This means that we never know when one is gonna turn up - there are many sporadics every year, but on average we get one, maybe two really great ones, per decade - but because it's a random thing, you just never know.....
There may be one this year - or we may have to wait 20-odd years - but the likelyhood is, it'll be somewhere in between.

Heavens above website has finder charts, and details of brightness of the comets visible right now
[Registered users can see links. ]
Anything with a 'P' in it's designation is a periodic - others are sporadics.
The sporadics are the ones to watch, as they are incoming (and therefore brightening), because you never know just how they are gonna develop

[Harry Hayfield]

Originally Posted by frankminiaci

Hey,
does anyone remember Great Comet of 1997 Comet Hale-Bopp?

Yes, I do for political reasons. I was living in Montgomeryshire constituency at the time and as best as I could never managed to see Hale Bopp once whilst living in the town of Machynlleth. A few days later there was a debate between the candidates standing in the general election for the seat on the enviroment and I asked the question "I have been having no luck seeing Hale Bopp, and think it must be down to light pollution. If you are elected to Parliament, will you table a private member's bill to deal with the issue?". The candidates replied thus:

Glyn Davies (Con): We have leglisated for a reduction in light pollution levels by seeking a consultation on alternative lighting methods
Angharad Davies (Lab): A Labour government will ensure light pollution is non existent by 2010
David Senior (Plaid Cymru): An Independent Wales will be able to reduce light pollution
John Bufton (Referendum): It is Europe that tells us how many lights we have to have, a vote for the Referendum Party will tell Europe where to stick it
Susan Walker (Green): Yes, if I am elected I will as 90% of the light goes straight up and is wasted.
Lembit Opik (Lib Dem): This is a particular interest of mine as my grandfather discovered that cloud that it came from.

As the rest as they say is history!

[BlackStrat57]

I remember seeing it every evening, I wasn't very old though. I didn't really appreciate it as much then as what I would if I saw it now.

I just ordered a pair of Gemini 25x100 binoculars, I plan on doing a lot of comet searching with them.

[admin]

hey welcome to the forums BlackStrat.
yeah i started out with binos however i wish i saw that comet better...

[Asteroid1989]

Originally Posted by frankminiaci

Hey,
does anyone remember Great Comet of 1997 Comet Hale-Bopp?

It was 11years ago.You still remember it!
I didn`t knew it that year as I was too young to get information about that comet then.