RE: Comet Curiosity

Sweitzer, Dennis (SWEITD01@imsusa4.imsint.com)
Wed, 27 Mar 96 07:31:00 EST

John wrote:
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I am curious as to where it would be seen in the sky of Boston or the
Boston area. How big should it be compared to other stars in the sky? I
want to look for it... tonight I thought I might have seen it, but not
really knowing what I should look for, I wasn't sure.
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Last night it was next to Polaris (the North Star), and it has been very
nice this last week. However, this week the moonlight will become
overwhelming (unless you get up early in the Morning), and the comet be
getting closer to the horizon (making it dimmer yet).

It looks like a fuzzy patch in the sky, about the size of the moon. If your
sky is dark enough (and after your eyes adapt to the dark), you'll be able
to make out a tail (but you have to gaze at it for a while). You'll see a
little more by using averted vision--look slightly to the side the comet, in
order to use the more sensitive portions of your retina.

Comets are fairly common, though each one may only come around every 10kYr
or so. This one is the brightest for several decades, but there usually
about 6 discovered every year, and visible in telescopes.

To be fair to the apathetic, the comet is not visually spectacular compared
to the wonders of media special effects. I guess it is somewhat of a
cerebral thrill, knowing that this is an infrequent natural phenomena. That
may be an interesting psychological study: what kind of people are awed by
visually dull, but cerebrally impressive, phenomena?

Dennis Sweitzer