MY FAVORITE ASTRONOMICAL EVENTS

Comets

Comet Bennett about April 1970 - I remember being waken up early by my folks to see this one. It was fairly bright naked eye. I also viewed it with my telescope.

Comet Kahoutek 1973-1974 - I was never able to find that one despite all the hoopla!!

Comet Halley 1985 - I was able to see it only in binoculars. I also saw it through a telescope at AFGL when I was there for something related to my work at Aerodyne Research, Inc.

Comet Hyatake March 1996 - My best view was out in West Brookfield, MA during late March 1996 when it was way up in the north sky - the ion tail was real long!!!

Comet Hale-Bopp Late Winter and Spring 1997 - Saw it naked eye even in light polluted Arlington, MA and got a good view naked eye and with binoculars and telescope in West Brookfield, MA where I grew up.

Comet Ikeya-Zhang - I finally found it in the constellation Cepheus using 7x35 binoculars at about 4:15 am on April 17, 2002!! Go here to see some coincidences I noticed related to the comet!!

Solar Eclipses

March 7, 1970 - Was total over Nantucket, was well over 90% when I watched it indirectly with a pinhole camera in West Brookfield, MA. I remember the temperature dropping several degrees.

July 1972 - Was over 80% over West Brookfield, MA. Projected image of Sun through 60 mm refractor on sheet of paper.

May 10, 1994 - Was annular in southern Vermont. Pictures (click here) taken by me at Farmbrook Motel in Plymouth, VT near Calvin Coolidge's birthplace and near White River Junction, VT.

Total Lunar Eclipses and Other Events...

February 22, 2002 - Jupiter near Moon, photos with my new Nikon Coolpix 995 digital camera.

September 27, 1996 - Click here for Snappy frame grabs of video of eclipsed Moon with Saturn nearby taken with my Sony Handycam.

There were a few others I saw over the years - I do not remember the exact dates.

Year 2000 was a good year for astronomical events - including a lunar eclipse just two days before MIT Club of Boston's Gala 2000 in January!! Unfortuneatly, it snowed that day so I could not get any pictures of the eclipse to use on the MIT Club of Boston's Gala 2000 page. There was a Great Conjunction of all 5 bright planets in May 2000. Also, Comet LINEAR behaved non-LINEAR-ly by breaking apart during the summer of 2000!!:-)

I remember a transit of Mercury back on May 9, 1970.