Comets Hale-Bopp And Hyakutake, Sketches And Images. The Two Most Impressive Comets Of All Time, At Least For Those Of Us Living Today! Also Comet Neowise, Sketch and Image Included, Which Was The Brightest Comet Since Hale-Bopp!
Twenty-Six years as of March 2023!
Comet Hale-Bopp
March 1997
10-Inch Reflector
Magnification: 160x
FOV: 0.38º
White charcoal pencil sketch on black card stock. The three tails are visible: The anti-tail, the ion or gas tail and the dust tail are clearly visible. Roger Ivester
Unfortunately, the sketch is actually larger than our scanner can copy, so some of the comet is cut off. The sketch was made on 4/2/1997. The tail was about 15° long to the naked eye. To get the tail and the core detail in the same sketch, I used three different instruments: 8×40 binox, a 90mm refractor, and a 6-inch reflector.
Supplemental: Comet Neowise, also photographed (below) by Mario Motta. Comet Neowise was discovered on March 27, 2020 by astronomers during the NEOWISE mission of the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) space telescope. At that time it was 18th-magnitude.
NEOWISE is known for being the brightest comet in the northern hemisphere since Comet Hale-Bopp in 1997. It was visible to the naked eye under dark skies, reaching a magnitude 0.5 to 1. (Information from Wikipedia)
Roger Ivester: Hyakutake notes, and sketch via an 8 x 50 telescope finder.
I seem to have misplaced my sketches of Hyakutake, but most were made using a 6º finder, as a 2º telescopic view was just not large enough! I also used a pair of Pentax 7×21 mini-binoculars
The following is a note card from the night of March 22nd 1996:
Incredible! Can see a 20º tail without optical aid. My Pentax 7 x 21 mini-binoculars gave an excellent view also, but still too small to appreciate. When using my 10-inch f/4.5 Newtonian, and a 32mm (2-inch format) and 1.7º FoV, not very impressive.
This comet is like nothing I’ve ever seen!! Seemingly “almost” taking up the entire northern sky! When walking out in my back door, without any dark-adaptation…and there it is!
The following binoculars photo:
After almost 35 years, my mini-Pentax 7×21 binoculars, which I’ve used so many hours, including viewing the two great comets of my lifetime. I would use them when I didn’t want or have time to set up a telescope.
And the days before heading to work in the early mornings with a nervous feeling in my stomach, due to a terrible meeting waiting on me. So, Before getting in my car, I’d have the little Pentax bino’s tucked in my coat pocket, and might enjoy a view of some brighter star clusters.
After about 15 minutes looking at the sky, I’d be ready for the stressful day before me. Also, before going to bed, on clear nights, I often spend a few minutes taking in some brighter deep-sky objects with these tiny binoculars.
Amateur astronomy does not “always” require a large telescope, with long set-up times to enjoy the night sky.
Many amateurs…for their first binoculars, will choose 10x power (or sometimes even greater) and with 80mm objectives, only to find out they cannot be “handhold” and the field-of-view is too small and dim.
I’ve always believed that 8x is the maximum magnification of any binoculars, that can be handheld. Roger
rogerivester.com 