dipper@utastro.UUCP (Debbie Byrd) (11/27/85)
Today Comet Halley comes closest to Earth as it travels toward the sun. More -- in a moment. November 27 Comet Halley's Closest Approach Comet Halley is within 58 million miles of the Earth today as it travels sunward. That's the closest our planet and the comet will come until April, when Halley will pass within about 40 million miles of Earth. Halley has come much closer to the Earth on previous trips. In April of the year 867 A.D., the comet passed within four million miles -- providing a spectacular view as the comet's tail streamed out over practically the entire length of the night sky. This time around Halley is not as bright in our skies as it appeared to some of our ancestors. And tonight bright moonlight from the nearly full moon will make any comet hunting difficult. You may want to wait a few more days before scanning the skies with binoculars to try to see Halley -- when the moon is out of the way. If you do want to search for Halley with binoculars, look first for the four stars marking the corners of the Great Square of Pegasus. They'll be generally overhead after sunset. Look south of the southeast star in the Great Square. Sweep with binoculars to find Halley. Once you find the comet you'll be able to follow it night by night -- until moonlight interferes again. Each night at sundown Halley will be a little farther towards the west on the dome of the sky. Over the next two months -- as we see Halley appear each evening nearer to the glare of the setting sun -- the comet itself is traveling inward -- to be nearest the sun, at perihelion, on February 9. Script by Diana Hadley. (c) Copyright 1984, 1985 McDonald Observatory, University of Texas at Austin