And Hale-Bopp will live in infamy forever because of that whole Heaven’s Gate thing.
Brighter than Venus? Visible in the Daytime? The best HB got to was a visual magnitude of -.6, whereas Venus has a -4 or greater at times (and lesser other times).
Halley’s comet was a major flop last time around, as are the majority of ballyhooed celestial events.
Our last (near-complete) solar eclipse was worthy though.
I was commenting on “Even Hale-Bopp was more like a fuzzy star with a small tail."
Alright, I was exaggerating a bit, but it certainly wasnt Halleys bright (at it’s best).
Well, one thing Halley’s had going for it in 1910 was the lack of light pollution. I’m sure that helped a lot.
Well said. I was gonna add that comment earlier. Severe light pollution (and/or air pollution) now affects 90% of humanity. Not <9% as in 1910.
I’m sure it looked nothing like that great in SS MD.
I also wonder how much hyperbole there was in accounts like “the tail stretched halfway across the sky”.
IIRC a big part of the problem was that it was on the opposite side of the sun from us or something.
The comet I saw over the S Atlantic ( McNaught) felt like that …it just seemed to go on forever as this veil
Comet McNaught (C/2006 P1) developed an enormous tail, reaching lengths of around 75 million kilometers (0.5 AU) for its dust tail as seen from Earth, but its actual gas/plasma tail was far larger, estimated at about 150 million kilometers (1 AU) , roughly the distance to the Sun, and even larger than the dust tail. At its peak in early 2007, the visible tail stretched 35 degrees across the sky , making it the brightest comet in decades, visible in daylight
And that’s exactly why I think it might have been hyperbole: 35 degrees is certainly impressive, and enough that people might say “halfway across the sky”, but it’s still a lot less than 90 degrees, which is what that phrase would literally mean.
The “sky dome” has interesting visual artifacts. If you ask most people how many full moons would it take to go from horizon to horizon, they are likely to answer with some number way less than the 360 it would actually take.
I’d accept that as viable description as you never have a 360 view of the sky over water from land.
In reality usually a 180 degree view so halfway across on a very bright comet which Halley was…not a stretch.
And it was much closer to Earth than in 1986.
I personally would love to see Betelgeuse go supernova, and potentially have two “suns” in the sky.
This probably belongs in the “bad kerning” thread, but at first glance I thought you were awaiting delivery of a new cornet.
Just watched GREENLAND (2021) which was to be safe haven for select survivors of a planet killer comet.