And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.
Wm. Shakespeare, Henry V (Act 4, Scene 3)
I thought about this quote a few hours ago (23:38 EST 23-Mar-96) while standing in the back yard of Brian&Jan's in Milford, MA, staring up at Comet Hyakutake (C/1995 Y1). Fumbling in the dark, I took the cellular phone from my Bag of Holding, and called my parents in Washington, DC, to tell them that I could see it, and to describe it to them.
It was a fuzzy ball, easily seen with the unaided eye, about the size of a full moon, but much fainter. You could see a faint tail that extended about ten degrees. Using the tail stars of the Big Dipper (Alcor and Alkaid as pointers, it was in a straight from them, and about their distance away. I was near the triangular head of Bootes, almost on a straight line between the two stars closest to Alkaid, and the tail extended almost to Arcturus.
It was so bright that I could see it through the tinted moon-roof in the Adm. Gracie as I drove home through the darkened sections of Interstate 495!
It will get brighter on the next few nights, tomorrow being the closest approach as it races towards Draco on it's way to a close encounter with Polaris. But it has been cloudy the last few nights, and this may be my only glimpse of it. "An gentlemen … now a-bed shall think themselves accursed they were not here." Whatchacall a Once In A Lifetime Experience.
Brian called around noon yesterday while I was in Concord getting my mail, and suggested we get together for supper and a film. I arrived at their place around 17:30, and we went out for supper. Since the movie didn't start until 19:15, we crawled a bookstore, and I dropped 20 bucks on three books and two book marks … one was a section of the Christianized star atlas from the late 1600s that I recognized in spite of the limited detail.
This is one of those things that must be shared on the 'Net, immediately and for posterity. Some of the URLs on this page may become stale after the hoopla dies down. Let me know if they do, and I'll upload copies I made for off-line viewing.
That is all I have to say. -=DAH=- 24-Mar-96
Last update: 2007-03-03 by dennette@wiz-worx.com <Who is this "Dennette" person?>