Comet Hale-Bopp Observed In Daylight
Comet Hale-Bopp is about magnitude 1.2, according to my estimate
this morning. It was even visible by day. Through a telescope, of course.
After several cloudy nights I took some images of the comet,
and then I let the 8" f/17.5 refractor (on which the telephoto lens
with the CCD was piggybacked) to track the comet. Around sunrise, 7 o'clock
local time, the core of the comet was still visible through refractor with 25 mm
eyepiece (140x). About 30 minutes after the sunrise the comet definitely
disappeared. With roughly estimated magnitude of the core about +2 mag.,
which will probably brighten next days, it should not be a problem to find
and observe Hale-Bopp by day through telescopes larger then 8", if you
have a perfectly polar-aligned mount (clear sky is also needed).
Jan Vesely
Observatory and planetarium
Hradec Kralove
Czech Republic
E-mail: planethk@planethk.anet.cz
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