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A surprise e-mail from Mark Bridges of the Open
University "Final Frontier"
late night astronomy program resulted in a TV broadcast from my observatory
on April 4th which coincided with the close approach of Comet Ikeya-Zhang
with the Great Andromeda Galaxy. Naturally the weather was not obliging,
however it wasn't quite as bad as it may have been, and about fifty guests
were able to take in the proceedings with views of Jupiter and Saturn,
however the comet was soon lost in the horizon haze. |
| Dr. Chris Riley, the presenter for the night,
arrives during late afternoon when skies looked promisingly clear. By the
time cameras and lights had been set up and scripts rehearsed, the sky
was now dark and we go out to the dome. |
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One of the lesser used pieces of apparatus used
at my observatory is the home-made "comet sweeping" chair constructed out
of old tractor parts. It was hastily recommisioned for the night, and I
was shown as an "avid comet searcher" ha ha!A star party was now in full
swing, everyone was quietly having a chuckle! |
| Sorry Chris, skies are just too cloudy, here
are a few piccies I took earlier! |
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Dave Brown and Rob Hatch were having rather more
success Rob images Jupiter with a hand held digital camera. Dave succeeds
in imaging the comet, which is now too low for the telescope in the dome.
The green cast in these images results from the infrared camera used to
image in the dark! |
| Time to call it a night, with a brew up
from Bill! |
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