|
|
Article: Holy Hyakutake, that's close
- Article from:
- The Independent (London, England)
- Article date:
- February 26, 1996
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 1996 The Independent - London. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
|
Keep a eye open in March to spot the most exciting sky sight
for many a year. Britain will have a grandstand view of the newly
discovered Comet Hyakutake, as it skims past the Earth at the end
of the month.
This unexpected celestial visitor was found by Yuji Hyakutake, a
Japanese amateur astronomer, on 30 January. He was scanning the
skies with a huge pair of binoculars with lenses 6in across. He
found a faint smudge of magnitude 11 to 12 - 100 times fainter than
the naked eye can see - between the constellations of Hydra (the
water snake) and Libra (the scales). It was a previously unknown
comet, then beyond the orbit of Mars as it headed in towards the
Sun.
Just five weeks earlier, Mr ...