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[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Comet NEAT leaves Chicago Skies

If you didn't get the chance to catch Comet Neat, it may soon be too late. It's racing out into deep space fading as it goes into the great unknown.

Sarwat and I had the opportunity to view it, but as comets go...it was quite unimpressive.

Below is a shot of Comet NEAT by a unknown photographer:

Here you can plainly see the dust and Ion trails streaming away from the sun.

Let's all wait for the next comet.

(- Sidenote -)

Earth is entering some sort of debris field recently. Many reports of frequent meteor fireballs and meteorites falling to the ground. Three comets, (NEAT-LINEAR-Bradfield) all at the same time, and SOHO is catching numerous comets and debris in close proximity to the sun.

Here is a great fireball taken in England recently.

I think that I shall start wearing my hardhat at all times from now on.

It's Armageddon, Meteor and Deep Impact all over again.

Joe
[glow=blue,2,300]Chicago Astronomer[/glow]

[astroviewerNGC2207]

TEXTTEXTYes Chicago I Believe that was 3 or 4 months maybe longer ago .. the same meteor shower had meteors hit in India that caused damage and fires ...
Cant remember the name of it though

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

I'm telling you all...we are in some sorta debris field!

Yesterday, a great fireball flashed thru the Washington state skies, Below is a report from USA Today:

Officials confirm meteor source of skyburst
SEATTLE (AP) — A meteor about the size of a computer monitor flashed across the Northwest sky early Thursday, setting off booms that stunned witnesses.
"There was some question as to whether it was a piece of space junk burning up, but it was not," said Geoff Chester, a spokesman for the Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C. "As far as I've been able to figure out, it was simply a rock falling out of the sky, as they are wont to do on occasion."

Chester said it was a type of meteor called a bolide, one that appears like a fireball in the sky, and was about the size of a small piece of luggage or a computer monitor.

Nothing unusual was detected on National Weather Service radar, and authorities also ruled out aircraft problems or military flight tests.

Toby Smith, a University of Washington astronomy lecturer who specializes in meteorites, said the skybursts were reported over a wide area around 2:40 a.m.

Witnesses along a 60-mile swath of the Puget Sound region from the Tacoma area to Whidbey Island and as far as 260 miles to the east said the sky lit up brilliantly, and many reported booms as if from one or more explosions.

"It made a pretty big bang," said Petty Officer Andrew Davis at Whidbey Island Naval Air Station, 40 miles north of Seattle.


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I wouldn't be at all surprised if a sizable rock came crashing down soon. Good thing I park my car in my garage!

Joe
[glow=blue,2,300]Chicago Astronomer[/glow]

[dewayne]

I know this is a late post.
But, I have to comment.
NEAT was my first comet.
I know a lot of more experienced amateurs found it unimpressive.
I was totally impressed.
If they get a lot better than NEAT then I hope I live long enough to see one.
I saw it first, I believe, on May 15 (when NEAT was passing close to the Beehive Cluster.)
I was in the very dark yard of a friends house.
It was incredible. I saw NEAT in my 6x30 finderscope. When I first saw it in my 25MM EP I was blown away.
We could see a wisp of tail.
I viewed it 6 different times over about a two week period.
Most of the views were from my LP front yard, but I could still find it.
It was one of the highlights of my astronomical views so far.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

First views of any space object is very exciting. I am glad that you got to see NEAT and created a memorable experience. In Chicago skies, it was not a great target, but there were two that were.

Comet's Hale-Bopp and Hyuatake(sp?) were great comets for inner city astronomers. They arched well over the horizon and were magnificent objects in the eyepiece. Both were naked eye objects with both dust and ion trails plainly visible.

I remember in 1973 as a kid of 12 very excited about Comet Kohoutek. I had a 60mm refractor at the time and was ready. Since it was a morning object during the winter, I had to arise very early to spot it. Never did target it. It turned out to be a dud. I was quite dissapointed.

Then the next big Comet was to be Comet Halley. Written about ad nauseum, I just couldn't wait until it made it's next showing in 1986. The pictures from the 1910 visit were great and this was going to be the Comet of a lifetime. Nope...just a smudge in Chicago skies and a real let down. I was starting to think that what I saw of Comet images were the perview of giant telescopes with long exposures. Out of my reach I thought. I never see a comet.

But with Hale-Bopp and Hyuatake, they changed my perception of the "Hairy Stars".