A week ago the air waves and Internet were abuzz with news of a "Saturn-like object" seen alongside Comet Hale-Bopp. A Houston astrophotographer claimed to have spotted this "new planet" on Art Bell's radio talk show. It turns out that the mystery object was SAO 141894, an 8th-magnitude background star missing from the sky-charting software the Texan was using. Meanwhile, moonlight and low altitude have made observing Hale-Bopp (C/1995 O1) difficult in recent days, but the comet is now about magnitude 4.5 and continues to brighten as it slips toward conjunction with the Sun. Here are Hale-Bopp's positions for the coming week at 0 hours Universal Time:
Date R. A. Decl.
----------------------------
November 23 17h 56.4m -1d 30'
25 17 58.3 -1 18
27 18 0.2 -1 5
29 18 2.1 -0 51
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