One of the things that I do miss from living in the country is the stars. Out on the roads, winding between in the fields surrounding that quiet rural town, there is very little light pollution and so the stars are extra gorgeous. It was sweet!
(I'm pretty sure that Dad took a time-laps picture of Hale-Bopp, however,
since I don't have a copy I just lifted this one from the internet,
from http://www.skyshooter.net/Comets.htm)
since I don't have a copy I just lifted this one from the internet,
from http://www.skyshooter.net/Comets.htm)
Despite there always being a tail on pictures of comets, I was surprised by how slow those things actually travel when viewed from here on the ground. But it was really cool to have seen it!
Now, this coming Wednesday, another comet - Comet Lulin - will come within viewable distance; just a mere 38 million miles away! They say it will take another 1,000 years for this comet to come this close to the Earth again. According to NASA, one should be able to see it (if it's a clear night) with binoculars or a small telescope. The best viewing is in the early morning hours, before the sun rises. There is more information here.
(from http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/highlights/35992534.html)I don't know that through the city lights I'll be able to make out anything, and I sadly don't have the cool toys needed to actually attempt to take a picture of it... However, I may have to take a walk Wednesday night just to see what I can see!
5 comments:
That's interesting, we may have to try to check it out. I remember Hale-Bopp. Brent and I drove out to the country to try to see it one night. I think the only thing we found was a pasture with horses. The funny thing is we now live only a couple miles away from where we were looking in the country that night.
Yeah, they say Hale-Bopp was likely the most viewed comet in this century and they say that the newly blooming internet was probably the cause. And apparently it was pretty bright (as far as comets go)
Though the comet on Wednesday is going to be closer to the earth than Hale-Bopp was (thanks to an online converting calculator) I found out that Hale-Bopp passed by about 122,236,992 miles from Earth, who knows if it'll be as bright.
Cool that you remember that! Actually, for Hale-Bopp it was bright enough that we just went out in the driveway. It was right over the neighbor's house, visible to the unaided eye. It was cool. And we did take pictures. Unfortunately, that was long before we had a digital camera so they're lost somewhere in a big box of unsorted pictures. Maybe you'll find them when you're going thru the estate.
Anne - I do remember your taking a picture of the comet in our driveway.. Do remember what it was that we drove out into the country to see?
we went out a couple of times looking for the aurora borialis. We also went out for a better view of an eclpise a few times.
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