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Copyright 2008 Starry Mirror

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Astronomy From West Virginia

REMEMBERING COMET HYAKUTAKE'S 1996 FLYBY

Bad weather prevented us from viewing the comet in mid-March. By the third week of the month, the sky cleared and we were able to see the comet for much of the night. The comet was then at its closest, and was high overhead in the late evening hours, near the Big Dipper. It was at its brightest for only a few days around March 25, and at that time its tail appeared about as long as the Big Dipper asterism itself. The accompanying images were taken on film and even through the moderate light pollution here in our location, the tail could clearly be seen.

 

The comet remained visible to the unaided eye through April and into May, when it faded rapidly as it pulled away from the Earth. We were lucky to have seen such a fine show, and to be living in an area which was still dark enough to see it well. Today, just thirteen years later, sky glow from development in our area would make it doubtful that we could see the tail of such a comet if the spectacle were to be repeated. A new comet could come streaking by the Earth at any time, but Comet Hyakutake, 1996/B2, will not be seen again for thousands of years.

 

Comet Hyakutake was discovered using a large pair of binoculars, and only two months before it was brightest. Though this was a typical discovery scenario in the past, in the future such comets will likely be discovered by medium-sized, computer controlled observatory telescopes which image the sky and automatically search for transient objects. Almost all comets in recent years have been discovered this way, when they were much dimmer than the magnitude 11 of Hyakutake at its discovery. Depending upon the circumstances, it is possible that the next great comet could be spotted many years before its great showing. - GW

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Comet Hyakutake, photographed here at our observatory in Bridgeport, West Virginia in late March, 1996.

A closer view of the comet's coma.