GMS@PSUVM.BITNET (03/13/86)
I observed P/Halley this morning from two sites at State College,
Pennsylvania. (41 degrees North Latitude, 79 degrees West Longitude)
The first site was at 4:45. This site was in a pretty dark area, but inside
the metro area. The comet was hard to naked eye, but easier (with a short
tail) in 7x35 binoculars.
Then I moved south of town, to get all of the metro lights behind me. This
was about 5:20 (it's a small town). The comet was easy with naked-eye, and
a tail about 3 degrees long was visible. Binoculars showed the comet more
easily, and my 8" F6 Newtonian telescope of course showed it better, but
with no real coma detail (like jets) visible.
The comet was about 15 degrees above the southern horizon when morning
twilight began to interfere. I'd estimate the coma to be about 3'rd
magnitude (in agreement with an earlier posting I'd seen on the net). If
you are away from town lights it is really not hard at all, in fact it is
much brighter, and somewhat larger, than it appeared in January before
it ducked behind the Sun.
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Gerry Santoro ******** *
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