Contact: Kay Fike Jones
Due to an overwhelming public response, Mississippi State University's observatory will now be open two nights a week over the next three weeks for Comet Hale-Bopp watchers.
The E.I. Howell Observatory will open April 22, 23, 29, 30, and May 6 and 7, weather permitting. The observatory's 14-inch telescope will be available as soon as darkness falls--usually between 7:30-8 p.m. CDT.
The observatory originally opened its doors to the public one night a week at the beginning of April, but a tremendous public response prevented many people from viewing the comet through the telescope.
Departmental faculty and students will be available to answer questions about the celestial traveler that was last visible to Earth some 4,000 years ago.
Located on the university's South Farm, the Howell Observatory is two miles off Blackjack Road, the east-west thoroughfare that runs along the western edge of central campus. Observers should take the two-lane gravel road situated just east of the main Wise Center (College of Veterinary Medicine) entrance on Blackjack.
For more information, contact the physics and astronomy department at (601) 325-2806.