Birmingham Southern College - Southern Accent Yearbook (Birmingham, AL)

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-Si y cop - A photograph of the Comet tak- en from Mi. Hopkins, Arizona on Sept. 15. At the time of the photograph, the comet was 200 milhon miles from earth. . -: . :.: .. f.: ...«iS ..:.aSS. ., m 240— L sues

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' ind-shear seems to be the luse of the pJane crash in the aJJas-Fl. Worth airport that re- ilted in the death of 130 peo- Disaster-

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Halley ' s comet was indeed visible in AJabama. This piclure was taJten in North SiieJby County on March 17. « A here the hell is it? YY ' I don ' t know. Oh! Is that it? No you fool That ' s the red light on the Channel 13 Tower, Go ask that guy over there. Which one? The one with the 6 foot telescope. Oh, you mean the one looking in the opposite direction that we are? Yes, that ' s the one. Oh, Okay. Well, what did he say? He said that Larry Nobles said it was supposed to be next to the constellation Centarus. Well where the hell is that? I guess next to the comet. So go the scientific observations of two faithful followers of Halley ' s Com- et. They were a small part of the uni- versal many who readied themselves for the arrival of Halley. The latest in- formation on the comet was gathered by subscribing to Science and Sky and Telescope magazines and by watching Star Hustler weeknights at 11:00 p.m. on PBS. Just about everybody tried at least once to spot the comet — to get a view of that marvelous tail streaking across the heavens. Beginning in November the comet grew from a small fuzz ball until its height at its closest point to Earth on April 6, when it appeared as a giant fuzz ball only a mere 39 million miles away. Of course the view from the city wasn ' t that great for viewing a fuzz ball. The li ghts and pollution blocked out just about anything celestial. An exodus to the country was needed. The best place to view the comet was at roadside park on 280 past Lloyd ' s restaurant in Shelby county. On an average night there were about 100 people looking for the dot in the sky. There were families with crying babies; left-over hippies playing Aquarius on harmonicas; and many professional junior astronomers who moaned when a carlight obstructed their vision. On that early magical morning of April 6th, about 1000 people showed up. At ' Southern, comet pools were formed to take people to see Halley. The planetarium was jumpin ' with standing programs on the comet. Dr. Boardman had a constant smile on his face for six months. The comet may not have turned out as promising as advertised. The tail, if there ever was one may have been a little too short, and those reports of you can see it with the naked eye may have been slightly misleading, but Halley ' s comet was still the event of a lifetime. All those kids who found Halley Telescopes under the tree on Christmas morning can pull them back out in 2062, when comet Halley returns. i»lig3 Isi Cut Where Wao It? By Tom Doggett Halley ' s Comet— 241