To offer a better view of the Hale-Bopp Comet, Mississippi State University is opening its observatory each Tuesday night in April.
Rodney Piercey, head of the physics and astronomy department, said the E.I. Howell Observatory will open April 8, 15, 22, and 29, weather permitting. The observatory's 14-inch telescope will be available as soon as darkness falls--usually between 7:30-8 p.m. CDT.
Departmental faculty and students will be available to answer questions about the 40-mile-wide celestial traveler that was last visible to Earth some 4,000 years ago.
First observed in this millennium just two years ago by amateur astronomers Alan Hale of New Mexico and Tom Bopp of Arizona, the comet is visible to Mississippians in the northwestern sky. It will pass within 120 million miles of Earth at its closest point and the best views should be throughout April.
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.