From: Henry Spencer <henry@zoo.toronto.edu>
Newsgroups: sci.space.tech
Subject: Re: March Comet
Date: Sat, 24 Feb 1996 07:03:53 GMT

In article <4gklku$mfp@hpcvsnz.cv.hp.com> jerlong@spk.hp.com (Jerry Long) writes:
>Why do I have trouble with a story like this? It seems
>so unlikely that an individual using binoc's can "discover"
>a major comet such as this. Why haven't one of the major observatories
>been able to see this long ago? ...
>Is this common?

Yes.  Most comets are discovered by amateurs or near-amateurs.  For this
sort of work one needs low magnification -- to make it possible to sweep
large areas of the sky in a reasonable time -- and lots of patience.  The
instruments of a major observatory are mostly built for very careful
examination of quite small areas of sky, and there is generally a long
lineup of people who want to use them on specific targets in aid of
specific research projects with specific deadlines.  Major observatories
are neither suited for, nor available for, comet hunting. 

The major observatories can get a much better *view* of the comet, once
they know where to look.  But discovering it in the first place is a job
for enthusiastic (in fact, bordering on fanatical :-)) amateurs with big
binoculars. 
-- 
Space will not be opened by always                 |       Henry Spencer
leaving it to another generation.   --Bill Gaubatz |   henry@zoo.toronto.edu

From: schumach@convex.convex.com (Richard A. Schumacher)
Newsgroups: sci.space.tech
Subject: Re: March Comet
Date: 23 Feb 1996 18:45:07 -0600

>Why do I have trouble with a story like this? It seems
>so unlikely that an individual using binoc's can "discover"
>a major comet such as this. Why haven't one of the major observatories
>been able to see this long ago? For some reason, I have great
>difficulty understanding??

>Is this common?


Yes, it's completely true, and quite common. Amateurs have much more
time than professionals to go comet hunting, and comets require _low_
magnification because they are relatively large and dim. Professional
'scopes spend all their time staring at pre-determined targets at high
magnifications, which is the wrong strategy for finding comets.

Keep in mind that many of the successful amateur comet finders (and
a number of them have multiple discoveries) use 25x150 "binocs" that
cost more than your first car.