OK, I was looking at a drawing I had done of the coma of Hale-Bopp and not my
old notes, as the drawing was done at a higher power than my largest field of
view for the 10 inch. I finally drug out my old notes. On March 27th, 1997
at about 0230 UT, I noted the head at about magnitude -0.7, and the size at
25' x 14' arc, with a 15 degree long plasma tail and an approximately 24
degree dust tail. I have an image I took that night does show at least a 20
degree dust tail despite a little northern skyglow (the tail went into the
Milky Way, so it was difficult to find the exact end). The inner 10 degrees
was the only part of that dust tail which had much brightness to it, although
I could see it fade into a broader and longer feature visually. Clear skies
to you.
--
David W. Knisely
Prairie Astronomy Club: http://www.prairieastronomyclub.org
Hyde Memorial Observatory: http://www.hydeobservatory.info/

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