Check Halley's Comet this Weekend!

Doesn't everyone love Halley's comet? I remember back in '86 when it came around and there was a ton of news stories and articles written. I wonder why it is that that particular comet gets so much press. There's thousands of comets. Halley's comet isn't the brightest (See List Here). Anyway, here are some images of Halley's comet:

I think Halley's comet was much brighter in past appearances, although '86 was a 'washout'. AFAIK, it was also the first comet that had a correctly predicted return date - that alone made it (and Halley) very famous!

Back when Haley's last visited I managed to talk my way on to the flight deck on a trip from Darwin to Adelaide. It was so hot, humid, the poor old 727 was loaded to the gunnels and we ended up having to wait till 03:00 for the air to cool down enough to get airborne. We ended up stooging about the sky over the middle of Australia with every light we could find turned off. After about half an hour we decided it was futile and decided to open the bar instead. I did however manage to see it some time later but was unimpressed.

I remember seeing a comet back in either late 1969 or early 1970 that was very impressive, it had a clear head, short but extremely well developed tail and was certainly the brightest thing in the sky next to the moon and sun. I can't remember its name though, perhaps some of the more astronomical of us can fill in the details.

Mr Halley was also something of an engineer as well as being the Astronomer Royal. He invented a patented diving bell.

Masu,

Yes, i also remeber to have seen this very bright comet in 1970. I could find the following on the web:

Bennett, Comet (C/1969 Y1)

970, it put on a spectacular show throughout April 1970, reaching zero magnitude with a tail up to 30° long. Observations made with the he head of the comet to be surrounded by a vast hydrogen cloud, spanning some 13 million km in the direction parallel with the tail.


Perihelion 0.54 AU Eccentricity 0.996 Inclination 90.0° Period about 1,700 years

A long-period comet discovered on Dec. 28, 1969, by the South African amateur astronomer John ("Jack") Bennett (1914-1990). Having reached perihelion on Mar. 20, 1970, it put on a spectacular show throughout April 1970, reaching zero magnitude with a tail up to 30° long. Observations made with the fifth Orbiting Geophysical Observatory showed the head of the comet to be surrounded by a vast hydrogen cloud, spanning some 13 million km in the direction parallel with the tail.

I think you may be thinking of this Comet. It was easily seen by the naked eye in central CT.

From Wikipedia

Comet Kohoutek, formally designated C/1973 E1, 1973 XII, and 1973f, was first sighted on March 7, 1973 by Czech astronomer Luboš Kohoutek. It attained perihelion on December 26 that same year.

The name Kohoutek sounded familiar but the dates are wrong. The comet I remember was visible in the early morning eastern sky in the southern hemisphere no later than September 1970. I've done some further looking and the only comet that fits my memory is Comet White-Ortiz-Bolelli or C/1970-K1 and it was only visible in the southern hemisphere.

I got this photo off the internet but it doesn't seem to fit my memory. I remember a short squat but extremely well defined tail but memories are extremely fickle things.

You can get more about the comet at this URL

http://cometography.com/lcomets/1970k1.html

This is a deep photo of Comet WOB that shows the two tails (gas which is straidht and dust which is curved). The naked eye appearance on the best evening/s (of which there were just a few) was a fairly straight tail of about 10 degree. In the early few days it appeared shorter due to the orientation relative to the sun and the earth. At the time of discovery the tail was only about a degree but the comet was then not well placed for observation as it was in the twilight, and only visible with optical aid.

Hope that helps... GLW

It was not WOB as WOB was an evening object. Also, it was in the northern sky but discovered and observed from the south. I know, I was there! GLW

Trust me, it is White-Ortiz-Bolelli (I know because I discovered it!).

G'day gals, guys, gurus & Guests,

Thanks for confirming my suspicions that it was White-Ortiz-Bolelli.

Which one are you White, Ortiz or Bolelli?

Regards, masu

Could you be mistaking the Swan comet for Halleys? The meteor shower from the remnants of Halleys will be visable this weekend but the comet currently in the sky is Swan comet. It is located in the early evening just under the big dipper. This is a rogue comet and will never be seen again, at least on earth. Halleys is not due back until 2061.

Quoting charsley99: "Could you be mistaking the Swan comet for Halleys?"

No, the whole point of the post (if you read the referenced article) is that if you have missed Halley proper last time around, you can maybe catch a glimpse of a piece of it this weekend - a piece of debris.

I remember seeing a very well defined and bright comet in 1996. Visible with the naked eye. Can't remember the name of it.

May have been Comet Hale-Bopp; discovered on 23 July 1995 by two independent observers, Alan Hale (Cloudcroft, N.M.) and Thomas Bopp (Stanfield, AZ), and reached perihelion in 1997

That was it, and yes it was in 1997. It was a great view, unforgettable.

I finaly took some time off work (boss said use your vacation time or lose it) and my intent was to spend every night outside with my telescope. Unfortunately, the weather in southern Ontario was rainy for the entire week. I did not see any of the Orinids meteor shower which is what Jorrie is referring to, nor did I get to watch Mercury's transit of the Sun on Saturday Oct.21, for this I will have to wait another 10 years.

The debris from Halley's is the source of the meteor shower that originates in the constellation Orion, hence the name Orinids.

Mercury's transit of the sun isn't till November 8-9 depending where you are in the US it starts at 14:00 Eastern Standard Time on Wednesday 8^th November and here in Sydney Australia at 06:00 on Thursday 9^th November so you havn't missed it yet. There are more details on the following site.

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2006/20oct_transitofmercury.htm

Personally I am looking forward to it and hope to be more prepared than the transit of Venus. I did however manage to get a couple of photographs using a pin hole projecting onto a board and a digital camera.

Unfortunately the sun ended up too low in the sky before the transit was completed however this time its shortly after dawn and I have a clear view to the east over water so I hope to do better this time.

Wow, do I ever feel stupid, your are correct, November 8th is the transit. What was I thinking?

As for my comment regarding the Orinids, my local chapter of the Royal Astronomical Society lists them as the Geminids, I suppose both would be correct as the point of origin (apparent) is Orion, where it borders Gemini.

For those of you that are still reading this I believe the comet I sas back in 1970 was C/1969 Y1 Bennett. Follow the link for details.

http://cometography.com/lcomets/1969y1.html

This site is a good one if you are interested in comets.

Well, I never got to see Halley's Comet. I never got to see Bill Halley and the Comets either. But they sure are a blast! Still get jazzed by their music....

well I was named after the the Halley's comet. when it was 1996 in December and I'm proud to be named after a such a beautiful thing.but the worst thing is every one has the name Hailey or Haley in all other forms of spelling but they were not named after the Halley comit.