[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

No Crater in Honduras & Comet Hale-Bopp Update

SKY & TELESCOPE NEWS BULLETIN
FEBRUARY 28, 1997

HALE-BOPP GLEAMS AGAIN

According to veteran observer Charles Morris, on the morning of
February 28th Comet Hale-Bopp (C/1995 O1) was magnitude 0.5 with a gas
tail stretching some 20 degrees and a dust tail half that long. Morris
says the comet was then significantly brighter than it had been just
two days before. A prominent fountain coming off the nucleus and its
resulting dust plume are easily visible in binoculars. And now that
the Moon has waned itself away, early morning views should be
excellent. To see Comet Hale-Bopp you'll need to be up at least an
hour before sunrise. You'll find it above the east-northeast horizon,
to the lower-right of the bright star Deneb in the constellation
Cygnus.

NO HIT IN HONDURAS

An international team of meteorite specialists have found no evidence
for a 50-meter-wide impact crater in Honduras, despite local reports
to the contrary following a spectacular bolide last November 22nd
(March issue, page 12).  According to astronomer Maria Cristina Pineda
de Carias of the National Autonomous University of Honduras in
Tegucigalpa, the fireball remained luminous down to an altitude of 14
kilometers and had an apparent magnitude of -15 to -20 -- many times
brighter than the full Moon.  Any meteorites from this event probably
fell in rugged, inaccessible terrain near the Honduras-Guatemala
border, though none have been recovered yet.


Copyright 1997 Sky Publishing Corporation. S&T's Weekly News Bulletin
and "Sky at a Glance" stargazing calendar are provided as a service to
the astronomical community by the editors of SKY & TELESCOPE magazine.
Widespread electronic distribution is encouraged as long as this
paragraph is included. But the text of the bulletin and calendar may
not be published in any other form without permission from Sky
Publishing (contact permissions@skypub.com). S&T's Weekly News
Bulletin and "Sky at a Glance" are available via SKY Online on the
World Wide Web (http://www.skypub.com/). At present they are not
available via electronic mailing list.