Comet Halley. March 15, 1986.
1 minute exposure. 3M 1000 slide film. 50mm f/1.8 Yachica camera.
On this night I dicided to travel east of the city, to an area that had a very dark eastern horizon. As the comet rose over the distant trees, it made a magnificent sight. At magnitude 2.8 with a 4 degree naked eye tail, the comet rose tail-first. In my 10 inch telescope, the tail was visible for about 8 degrees. The coma had a very distinct greenish tinge, while the tail appeared to devide into two about 3 degrees back from the coma.
As dawn approached, I dicided to wait until the sun rose to see if I could follow the comet with the naked eye in daylight. As it turned out, I lost the comet to the naked eye about 6 minutes before sunrise and but only about 2 minutes before with the telescope. So it was not quite a daylight comet!
