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Halley’s comet 1985/86 return revisited


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After just getting some RM stamps (off fleabay) that were produced for the last return of Halley’s comet back in 1985/6, I dug out my old copy of Nortons star atlas as back in the day when the comet returned last I noted its position (as best as I could) in the charts in the star atlas of the comets position when I observed it from late November 1985, until my last observation of it in early January of 1986. I was curious as to how close I actually had noted it down back in the day, so I set Skysafari Pro 7 on my ipad back to the dates and times I observed it to see how close I was with this. I was initially disappointed as my observations I logged in Nortons seemed to be quite a way off from what Skysafari was showing me for the positions I noted down in the charts. As I also have Skysafari Pro 6 on my ipad I tried the same dates in that & got the same results back. Surely I was not that bad as an observer back in my early 20’s to not be able to read the sky that well, and chart it? Time to get my laptop out and check this out also on Stellarium. Putting the dates and times in there I was pleased to see that there the observations I noted matched up pretty close to what Stellarium was showing me. As a final check I also have Starry Night Pro 8 on my laptop, so I checked it with that also. This gave me results similar to what I had got with earlier with both my version of Skysafari Pro, so maybe it goes to show that sometimes you can’t always trust tech to tell you the truth. Luckly I was there back then to note it down pretty well in the charts. Thumbs up for Stellarium for matching what I actually saw on the day and noted down pretty accurately. Big minus for Skysafari and Starry Night Pro in this area. Makes me wonder how well we can trust things with tech especially when going back in time for certain things to be shown accurately? 🤔
 

View off Stellarium below for November 17th 1985 at 1am which matches close to what I noted down on the day.

821EDDE4-0A57-4FD4-ADEB-5B9B21E87CF9.thumb.jpeg.35c2ec85aab06b3250e50b937f006359.jpeg


View from below from Skysafari Pro 6 for the same date and time, but showing the comet further to the left and well below the Pleides.

7E17341A-5815-47AE-ACED-CC26F424C538.thumb.png.e0a1cc79437c0ea4f832cde1d9031d8e.png

Edited by Knighty2112
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40 minutes ago, Nik271 said:

Stellarium in a recent update improved the accuracy of solar system objects, a year ago some asteroids positions were a bit off. Glad to hear your observations matched up!

Thanks Nik. Was not a big user of Stellarium before always using Skysafari for most things, but will use it more often now. 

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How special to have your notes from back then, such a privilege to witness this object that has been recorded for so long.

That was fun typing in December 1985, i have no surviving records of the event unfortunately.  I do remember spending quite few nights scan Aquarius, around the "Water Jar" asterism looking for Halley.   And there it is in Stellarium, whizzing past in late Nov-early Dec, thank you for bringing back that special memory 😀

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1 hour ago, Pete Presland said:

How special to have your notes from back then, such a privilege to witness this object that has been recorded for so long.

That was fun typing in December 1985, i have no surviving records of the event unfortunately.  I do remember spending quite few nights scan Aquarius, around the "Water Jar" asterism looking for Halley.   And there it is in Stellarium, whizzing past in late Nov-early Dec, thank you for bringing back that special memory 😀

Yes, a very special thing it was, even though it wasn’t the best showing of the comet. Not sure if I’ll be around for the next 2061 return, but if so I’ll try my best to log it down again. :) 

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9 hours ago, Knighty2112 said:

Yes, a very special thing it was, even though it wasn’t the best showing of the comet. Not sure if I’ll be around for the next 2061 return, but if so I’ll try my best to log it down again. :) 

I still live in the same house, the bedroom that i observed Halley from is my "man cave" at the moment. I still think of Halley occasionally when in there.

Like you say "not the best showing", but a to see an object that has been depicted through man's modern history was still very special. I also remember Astronomy magazine reporting mount Palomar had imaged it , quite a few years earlier.

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On 07/09/2022 at 20:47, Knighty2112 said:

After just getting some RM stamps (off fleabay) that were produced for the last return of Halley’s comet back in 1985/6...

383351476_BGmini-sheet2.jpg.b64c4c4a0ba8c0c6ddae8e5e5c59d1de.jpg

Above image of four 25CT* stamps/mini-sheet, celebrating the 330th anniversary of Edmund Halley's birth, that I purchased at the same time as my 1999 solar eclipse mini-sheet [of which I have posted elsewhere] during one of my many  trips to BG 🇧🇬 between 1999 and 2003.

 

* CT = Stotonki... the unit of Bulgarian currency... 100 Stotonki = 1 Lev/Leva.

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I remember all the media hype about it back then (as an 11 Yr old kid), and my Dad telling me about it (He most likely didn't have a clue about astronomy). I had 5 yrs experience of observing the night sky with my first ever set of bins (10x50). 

I don't recall actually ever having seen it.

I do recall seeing a stunning naked eye comet which seemed to hang in the western sky for what seemed like months. I always confuse the name. Was it Hale-Bopp, or that other one (with a Japanese sounding name)?. 

Hyakutake?. It had 2 very distinct tails.

 

Edited by LukeSkywatcher
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55 minutes ago, LukeSkywatcher said:

I remember all the media hype about it back then (as an 11 Yr old kid), and my Dad telling me about it (He most likely didn't have a clue about astronomy). I had 5 yrs experience of observing the night sky with my first ever set of bins (10x50). 

I don't recall actually ever having seen it.

I do recall seeing a stunning naked eye comet which seemed to hang in the western sky for what seemed like months. I always confuse the name. Was it Hale-Bopp, or that other one (with a Japanese sounding name)?. 

Hyakutake?. It had 2 very distinct tails.

 

I have to admit that I missed Hale-Bopp as at that time a young family were keeping me busy, so at that time astronomy was well on the back burner. 

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I kept note books with all my observations back then,  They will be in my attic somewhere, I had log books for solar projection which I took every clear day, was lucky to own a Carl Zeiss 63mm refractor which was pin sharp.  You have put me in the mood to revisit themthis weekend.  I will confirm my first observation of Halley.

Mark 

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On 16/09/2022 at 13:39, Astroscot2 said:

I kept note books with all my observations back then,  They will be in my attic somewhere, I had log books for solar projection which I took every clear day, was lucky to own a Carl Zeiss 63mm refractor which was pin sharp.  You have put me in the mood to revisit themthis weekend.  I will confirm my first observation of Halley.

Mark 

Hope you find them Ok. 👍🏻

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On 21/09/2022 at 20:27, andrew63 said:

Gosh, reading this thread and had a very similar experience! Just been looking at my copy of Nortons from then, with luckily some markings I made - note just under the Pleiades. Thanks for bringing it all back.

 

Halley.JPG

Here’s my first 3 recorded sightings of Halley on Map 5. I made a further 6 recordings on Map 3 with my last sighting of it 5th January 1986. :) 
2E6BB9B8-7900-449B-8039-3E109DBCC529.thumb.jpeg.a477fa1736e4eb2be9599f800271872f.jpeg

Edited by Knighty2112
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On 21/09/2022 at 13:45, Knighty2112 said:

Hope you find them Ok. 👍🏻

Found them,   my did I have terrible writing as a youngster:-). First sighting 10th Nov 85. I followed it through to May 86 with a naked eye observation at one point. 

20220925_142912.jpg

 

Screenshot_20220925-153219_Stellarium.jpg

20220925_143104.jpg

Edited by Astroscot2
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